Black Blood Alchemist, REVAMPED
by SweetDarkLove
Summary: Crona was tormented by his mother endlessly as a child, but when he watched her die right in front of him he felt alone and afraid without her, and so he did the worst possible thing to try and bring her back. Now he has to learn to deal with the consequences. BACK IN BUSINESS! Chapters are REWRITTEN, see CHAPTER 1 for more information. Chapter 7 Revamped.
1. Ruff Beginnings

_**Story revolves around Crona, though it follows along with the Brotherhood series after Crona joins the military. I hope you all enjoy it.**_

_** REVAMPED: I have gone through all of the chapters leading up to my newest one, adding onto and enhancing the story as it goes because I noticed that the chapters seem to fly by at an fast pace. The story still follows the same plot each chapter, it's just that I'm going to add onto the paragraphs, improve the dialogue and make the pacing a little more even.**_

_** Your opinions on this choice are welcome. Now enjoy.**_

_** Oh and BTW, this '~~~' means a short period of time. And this '```' equals a change in position, I think it'll help with some parts of the story.**_

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_**Third Person P.O.V.**_

His name was Crona Gorgon, and his life was a total hell.

The moment he was able to walk and talk his own mother, Medusa, began using him in her experiments, which for the Gorgon family, was considered normal treatment for family members weaker than others. His mother did things to him daily, she injected him with dozens of syringes filled with god knows what, trying to increase the power of his alchemy until she turned him into a weapon she could use to finally take over the military from the inside out.

And today was just like any other day for the eleven year old, he was inside the white room again, and he was staring at the two hulking Chimera in front of him blankly, waiting for the order of his mother. One of them looked like it was a human mixed with a wolf, it stood on powerful hind-legs growling at him through sharp canine teeth and the second looked like a large demon dog with sharp snake-eyes, piranha teeth, and a scaly body that ended in a spiked-club tail.

"Now Crona" his mother, Medusa, said leaning against the doorframe "kill them."

Crona reached down beneath his cloak and grabbed one of the small can-like contraptions that were strapped to his belt. The object was no bigger than a ball and fit easily into the palm of his hand, and anyone could see the glass held between two metal caps with four short electric rods jutting out to the side and the multicolored liquid held inside, but the object was much more dangerous than it looked. The transmutation circle on the boy's neck where it met his shoulder, a circle with two intertwined snakes with two diamonds to the sides of them, glowed and purple electricity arced down his hand and shot into the short rods of the Alchemy-Grenade before the liquid inside glowed and he threw it at the wolf chimera.

When the grenade got close the glass exploded and a glowing mass shot out and tackled the wolf, and wrapped around it until the glow faded and a giant black snake with piranha teeth just like the demon dog roared into the dog's face as it started squeezing. Medusa snapped her fingers and the demon dog charged towards Crona but the boy didn't even try to get out of the way as the dog tackled him and bit his arm. Crona put his free hand to the dog's underbelly, and then his circle glowed again, before purple lighting arced over the dog and it gave a gurgled yelp before Crona kicked it off.

The dog picked itself back up in an instant and got ready to run at Crona again, but right as it took its first step towards him it stopped then collapsed on the floor dead, seeing as how its belly was now completely dissolved and its guts and blood slowly slid out onto the floor. Crona didn't even look at his injured arm as he walked over to the wolf chimera because his circle glowed and tiny particles in the air floated into the wounds quickly sealing themselves up.

"Now finish it off" Medusa ordered and the Chimera looked up at the boy fearfully.

"Yes lady Medusa" Crona said weakly as he lifted his leg up over the wolf's head.

Then, without any hesitation Crona stomped down on the wolf and its skull caved in instantly because of the force behind Crona's chemically enhanced muscles. Blood shot out everywhere, splashing on the walls, the floor, ceiling, and some of it even hit Crona in the cheek. He looked down at the red spot on his cheek, and the first thing he wanted to do was cry. He didn't want to do any of this, he didn't want to hurt the animals, but he didn't have a choice. She'd throw him in the dark room again if he disobeyed her, and he was hungry, he'd been in that very room for the past few days now, alone, starving.

"Very good Crona" Medusa nodded before she led him out of the white room "now go get cleaned up, dinner will be ready soon" Crona nodded and split off towards his room.

Once he made it back to his room and was sure that his mother couldn't hear or see him, he started crying. He cried taking his clothes off, he cried when he took a shower to wash all the blood off, and he cried before he put on a new pair of clothes, but when he left that small room he was back to how he was before, he was a cold hard shell that nothing could pierce. And when his mother saw him and the broken, defeated, lookin his eyes, she couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

"I hope you're hungry Crona, because it's your favorite" she slid a plate over to him "spaghetti, with plenty of garlic, just how you like it" she said scooping out some noodles and spreading sauce over it "go ahead and enjoy yourself, you've earned it."

"Thank you Lady Medusa" Crona's hand reached out quickly when she gave him permission and right as he picked up the fork he began inhaling the meal in front of him, and Medusa gave him another scoop which he ate just as quick. The food had no flavor to it however; oh sure there was plenty of spices and delicious sauce, but it was nothing but ash in his mouth as he thought about what he did to earn this meal.

This kind of suffering was just one of the standard days for the young boy, but little did he know that soon everything would change when the very people who gave Medusa the fake Philosopher Stone that allowed her to make Crona into what he was would betray her and destroy everything he knew in the world.

'```'

"Envy, have you alerted the military to Medusa's location yet?" the black-haired woman, with an odd tattoo on her neck~ an un-complex red dragon which wrapped around itself in a circle with a star of David-like symbol in the middle~ asked.

"Yep, they're on their way now actually" a man wearing one of the blue military uniforms answered, stepping out of the shadows "uhh, hey Lust…not that I'm complaining or anything about ditching the hot scientist, but why exactly are we just letting the military get rid of her?"

"She hasn't lived up to my expectations" the woman, Lust answered patting the head of the large ball-shaped person panting at her side, and anyone could see the same mark on the woman's neck was on the things tongue "all these years and she's only been able to create one weapon, who still hasn't fully developed mind you" she added with a disappointed look "I thought she could succeed, but it seems she's failed like all the others, and you know what happens to those who fail us" the man nodded.

"Whatever" he shrugged "oh well, if you'll excuse me, I need to check back in with my 'superiors'" he said with a roll of his eyes before he gave an illustrious bow "madam" he then disappeared back into the shadows.

'```'

And right about the time those two finished their conversation a certain giant blonde-haired man with an illustrious mustache wearing large metal gloves with transmutation circles etched into them walked up to the entrance of the castle. He was tailed up to the large door by a black-haired man with white gloves with red transmutation circles on them, and anyone could see that they were both wearing the uniform of the military stopped in front of the door of the castle the wanted Snake-Heart Alchemist was said to be hiding.

The black-haired alchemist looked down at his silver pocket-watch, then up to the giant at his side "so, you ready to go Armstrong?" he tucked the watch back into his vest.

"Of course! The fine members of the Armstrong bloodline are always ready for a fight!" he exclaimed before he punched his fists together "why do you ask Roy? Feeling nervous?" he looked down at the man, with a joking tone.

"A little actually" Roy nodded thinking back to the things he knew about the woman said to live here mixed with rumors he'd heard as of late "I just hope that you're ready for whatever kind of monsters are waiting for us in here" he said, pulling his gloves back and flexing his fingers "it could get pretty ugly" that comment only made Alex's eyes flash.

"Then let us not waste any more time!" he exclaimed as his muscles bulged under his vest "let us show these pitiful monstrosities the magnificent beauty and strength of the Strong-Arm Alchemist, Alex Louis Armstrong!" he yelled as he pulled his arm back.

'```'

"… You did very well today" Medusa eventually said as Crona ate quietly and he just kept silent, and Medusa knew why _"he probably thinks I'll put him in that room again"_ she thought with a sudden sense of guilt. She was a little surprised with herself at the feeling as she stamped the guilt out _"why do I feel guilty?"_ she questioned herself _"I had to do this, if Crona didn't become the weapon I needed, then the Military would never pay for what they made me do"_ she looked back at her son and that sudden sense of guilt was back _"I had to…"_ she sounded like she was trying to convince herself _"I had to."_

She watched him as he ate, that sense of guilt slowly getting worse. Why was this happening to her now? Crona was finally ready! Now all she had to do was let him rest and start planning, and the military and Bradley would pay for what they did to her. So why was she suddenly filled with this feeling eating away at her?

She was still in the middle of questioning herself, when Alex raised his fist and when it fell the entire castle shook with the explosive impact of his fist on its front door, and Medusa snapped towards the door of the room she was in her eyes wide.

"What the hell was that?" she yelled before one of her Chimera, a large creature that looked like a mix between a person and a snake with a long tail for its body slithered in and hissed something "State Alchemists? Here? That's impossible-" she was cut off when the castle shook again, but this time it came from an explosion caused by Roy after he snapped his fingers "how? How did they find us?" she yelled and the Chimera hissed again causing her face to darken "one of their men came in with the information?" she was silent for a minute as she digested that info, and then her face changed to one of total rage "there was only one person who knew I lived here" she started shaking with anger "Lust…" she growled "Lust! You damn traitor!" she yelled punching the wall next to her before she looked back at Crona, who was shaking.

He was ready, but after everything she put him through today he was tired and weak, so weak that there was little chance of him managing to take down one state alchemist, let alone _two_! If he did go up against them then he would surely die; that couldn't happen, if it did then she would have lost the only way to get her revenge, and there was no way she would let that happen! Not when she was so close!

"Crona" she walked over and grabbed her son's shoulders, steadying him "you remember the way to mommy's lab right?" she asked and he nodded "good" she let go of him then walked over to a wall with a window and her mark, in the exact place Crona's was and the exact same design, glowed as lighting arced down her hands.

The wall contorted until it was an opening and there was a ladder leading all the way down to the bottom of the castle "ok, now you need to listen to me sweety" she put her hand on his cheek gently "go to mommy's lab and wait for me there, no one knows about that place except me, so they shouldn't be able to find you" she told him, but the boy looked up at her with fear.

"B-but what about you?" he asked, and she couldn't help but feel strange that he cared.

"I'll be fine, I just need to take care of these pests and then I'll come to get you."

"But-"

"It's fine Crona, just get going and don't question me" she was getting irritated now.

"But I can't just-"

"Do as I say, or you're going back to the room again!" she threatened and her son's eyes widened before he nodded quickly "good, now get going" she pointed to the hole.

Crona took one last look at her then climbed down the ladder and when he reached the bottom his mother closed the hole and he looked up at the wall once before he turned and ran away, towards the place his mother did all of her experiments on him. Medusa on the other hand quickly weaved through the halls of her castle and descended down into the dungeon and unleashed all of her chimera creations, ordering them to go out and kill the alchemists. She needed to buy Crona as much time as she could; if he died then everything she had worked for up to this point would all be ruined. The military would pay for the things they made her do back in Ishbal, all of them were going to pay, and her son needed to live so she could take her revenge.

"Why the hell would Lust betray me?" Medusa mumbled walking up the steps out of the dungeon as her creations crawled and slithered past her on the walls and ceiling "why would she just let me go like this?" she asked making it out of the stairway, but then she saw a wall further down the hallway explode and out walked the two State Alchemists who were attacking her home.

She saw who it was and couldn't help but smile "so, they sent you two to come after me" she grinned at the two men as her creations charged them, but they were completely obliterated by a snap of Roy's fingers "hello Roy, Alex" she sneered at them "tell me, how are things?" she asked and Roy stared back at her coldly.

"Snake-Heart Alchemist Medusa Gorgon, you are here by under arrest by the order of Fuhrer Bradley for charges of treason, and inhumane alchemic experimentation on living humans."

"Inhumane?" Medusa asked raising an eyebrow "Inhumane!" she yelled, her tone shifting to one of rage "you were there at Ishbal Roy, you saw what they made us do there! What I'm doing here is like child's play compared to that slaughter!"

"I won't say that what we did in Ishbal was right, but orders are orders" Roy said snapping his fingers, making a flame form and swirl around him "just like my orders now are to take you in" the flame expanded menacingly "or kill you if I don't have any other choice" Medusa stared at him for a bit, not believing the threat before she started she snorted then began laughing.

She shook her head as she laughed, what he said was just so funny to her "I am going to make the military pay for what they did Mustang" she finally managed to get out after all of her laughing "all of you are going to pay!" she laughed clapping her hands together "and it looks like I'll be starting with the two of you!" she yelled slapping her hands onto the ground, blasting electricity over the floor and walls "and I wouldn't have it any other way! Killing a couple blind veterans who're still loyal after everything the military put us through! I would enjoy nothing less!" she yelled as dozens of arrows shot out of the hallway around her, straight towards the men.

Alex reacted quickly and pushed Roy back behind him before taking a step forward and sending a punch the ground in front of him, making a small wall with his own face on it shoot up out of the floor, blocking the arrows. He then punched the wall three times, blasting out three spikes towards Medusa and destroying the wall in the process.

She dodged all of the spikes nimbly before she reached back and grabbed one of her creations by the neck, and her circle glowed as the creature screamed then liquefied and covered her arm, changing into a large blade made of living, moving matter. Medusa then ran forward and cut through all of the spikes Alex shot at her and dodged every fireball that Roy shot at her before she slashed at the closest of the men, but Alex caught it and broke the blade in half.

"You cannot win this battle Medusa!" he yelled as she hopped back to dodge the punch he threw "just give up and make it easy on yourself, I do not wish to sully the Armstrong name by striking a woman" he said and Medusa looked at him hatefully as the rest of the fleshy blade melted off her arm.

She was just about to insult that stupid little insistence about his family pride, but before she could a small voice interrupted her _"… M-mother?"_ Medusa heard and her eyes widened _"mother, I-I-I made it to the lab"_ Crona said, and she breathed out with relief.

Good, so that bio-link organism she made really does work, Medusa laughed a little to herself, she had done it; her son was safe for now "well gentlemen, I would really love to stay and keep up this little game" she relaxed and chuckled at their confused faces "but unfortunately I have somewhere I need to be" Medusa put her hand against the wall to her side, and it opened up to show the sky outside.

"Wait" Roy understood what she ment to do and brought his fingers together "Medusa no!" but he was too late as she grabbed another of her creatures and jumped out the hole. Roy and Alex ran to the hole just in time to see Medusa change the creature into a fleshy parachute and land safely before she ran off "Damn it!" Roy punched the wall, but then he heard something and looked up and back to the stairway Medusa just came out of "ohhh, crap" his eyes widened when he saw all of the eyes staring back at him with hunger and he realized that the noise was them growling.

The creatures then all screamed, hissed, and roared at once as they ran out to kill the men in front of them, and they all wanted to get to them before the other did, days of starvation pushing them forward with no fear as Alex brought his arm back and Roy brought his fingers together "God damn it!"

…

Medusa ran through the forest like her life depended on it~ which in this case it did~ until she stopped in front of two trees that each had a few odd burn marks on them. She made sure this was the right spot then put her hand down on the ground and her circle glowed as the ground split up to reveal a passage. She looked around to make sure no one had seen her, and she closed the passage behind her after she stepped inside her lab.

She was expecting to find Crona waiting for her when she made it, but was surprised to find she was wrong, and also confused. She walked down the hallway, about to call his name out, but then she stopped when she smelled it. The smell of fresh blood. Her eyes widened and she ran forward down the hall until she was inside the main chamber of the small underground lab, and that's when she saw the source of the blood. There were three dead Chimera on the ground, all killed from about five thin stab wounds, and then she looked up and saw Crona being held by a black-haired woman with a red dragon tattoo on her neck.

"Lust" Medusa growled and the woman chuckled as the pink-haired boy in her hands squirmed "what are you doing here?"

She shrugged with a grin "well, I've always handled important things myself" she lifted Crona up and chuckled at his pained wince as she dug her nails into his throat "and what's more important then punishing a failure I invested so much in?"

"I-I'm sorry Lady Medusa" Crona gasped as her hand tightened around his throat "I… I-I tried to stop them… but they were too strong" he gagged, and Medusa looked at him with confusion. _They_?

Her eyes widened, but she realized it too late when the fat creature tackled her and looked down at her, laughing and slobbering at the same time "oooh, you smell nice" he laughed taking a deep sniff "ooh, can I eat her Lust, can I, can I?" Gluttony slobbered hungrily "she looks sooo tasty."

"No Gluttony, you can't eat her, I wish to take care of her myself" Lust then threw the pink-haired boy to the ground "hold the boy down and make him watch" she ordered and the fat thing slumped before he walked over to the boy and sat on him.

"Aww, no fair Lust" he slumped with a pout before sitting on top of Crona.

Lust smiled down at Crona as he cried out "Medusa, I'm so very disappointed in you" she walked over to her and picked her up by the neck "we gave you the power of the Philosopher stone, and you couldn't even produce one good weapon" she looked back at Crona with disappointment "and if that child is what you call a weapon then I know that giving you the stone was a mistake" she put two fingers to Medusa's chest "and you know how much I despise mistakes" her fingernails then shot out through Medusa's heart.

"Mother!" Crona screamed, but Gluttony hopped up and back down onto him, crushing him.

"And now Medusa, you're going to see what happens when someone fails me" Lust's nails retracted and she threw Medusa to the ground and she stomped down on her stomach. She then pointed her finger at Medusa's head and with a dark chuckle it shot out, piercing her skull, and making Crona cry out his mother's name again. Lust looked down at Medusa and stabbed her in the head a couple more times then flicked her fingers clean right on the ground in front of Crona "alright Gluttony, we're done here."

"But what about the lady and the kid, we're just going to leave them?" Gluttony asked looking adown at Crona hungrily "can't I just eat the kid, please! I'm so hungry" he whined.

"No Gluttony, we're leaving now" she looked down at Crona with a cruel smirk "the boy isn't a threat at all on his own, and with his mother gone and no where else to go, he'll die" Lust then began walking down the passage towards the exit, but when she heard him groan she stopped and sighed "alright fine, you can have Medusa… maybe it'll take away any fight the boy has left"

Gluttony looked up at her happily "really? I get to eat her? I really can!" he asked before he hopped around and clapped happily as Crona slowly got back up.

"Get away from my mother-" Crona was cut off when Lust's fingernails shot out and pinned him against the wall.

"Now sit there like a good little boy and watch" she ordered as Gluttony picked Medusa's dead body by the head.

He looked down at her with a childlike glint in his eyes but then his face turned into a sinister, dark grin as he opened his mouth up. Crona watched with total horror as Gluttony chomped down on Medusa's head, and no matter how much he wanted to he couldn't close his eyes as Gluttony tore her body apart in front of him, shoving random bloody bits into his giant mouth. Soon there was nothing left of his mother and he looked at Gluttony with wide-eyes as he licked the tips of his bloody fingers, and then Lust's nails retracted and Crona fell to the floor.

"Now come on Gluttony, let's go" she ordered, and the big thing nodded before he waved at Crona.

"Bye-bye little nugget" he laughed like a child again as Crona stared at the blood on the floor that had been his mother "she was really tasty" he said to Lust who just chuckled cruelly as they left Crona there.

…

He sat there for what felt like hours, staring down at the puddle that had been his mother, he looked at it for an eternity, until finally he started crying, but he didn't understand why. Medusa had tormented him, she had tortured him endlessly until she broke him, she had locked him in that room and made him cry over and over again… but she was still his mother. When it came down to it she was the only one who took care of him, she was the only one that kept his life in order; when she was with him he never had to be afraid, he never had to think about anything except following her orders. And now she was dead, she was gone, and he was alone, and afraid.

"What do I do?" Crona sniffled "I don't understand what I'm supposed to do" he cried hugging himself "please… somebody tell me what I'm supposed to do."

Crona cried endlessly, and while he sobbed he didn't notice the large book that was hanging on the edge of the shelf it was on. As if by fate the book fell down right in front of Crona, and rested on a page with the picture of a very intricate transmutation circle on it. Crona looked up at the noise and saw the book sitting in front of him, and he edged forward to see the picture of the circle and the title of the page.

"… Human… transmutation" he read the title, but he didn't feel anything as he looked at it, and so he thought, what the hell, why not, it's not like he had anything else to do other then die alone "… considered the worst taboo among alchemists, this practice is believed to be able to…" he stopped when he read it "said to be able to bring back the dead" his eyes widened as he saw this, but he kept reading "no one has ever done a human transmutation successfully, every attempt was always met with the-" Crona gulped when he read that part "met with the gruesome deaths of everyone who tried or transforming them into grotesque monsters that needed to be put down, and so the practice has been outlawed."

Crona read throughout the book wide-eyed as he saw the pictures of what this had done to people, but when he saw the part about there being stories of someone actually succeeding at the practice he felt a dim hope. He… he had a chance now… he actually had a chance to bring his mother back so he wouldn't be alone. He could have laughed at that moment, but then he saw the list of supplies he'd need and he knew this wasn't going to be easy.

If he was going to do this, he had to be sure that it would work; Medusa would never forgive him if he failed. Crona looked down at the blood splatter on the floor once more before he decided that he had to do it, he was lost without his mother; he didn't have any other purpose other than doing what she said.

"I-I'll bring you back mother" Crona promised getting up "I'll try to bring you back as quickly as I can" he looked at the splatter sadly before he picked up the book and started reading about what he would have to do and what he'd need "Water 35 liters, Carbon 20 kilograms, Ammonia 4 liters…"

* * *

_**So, do you guys like this new version? I know it's not that different, but still, I think it's better then before, though it's your opinion that matters so review away.**_

_**BTW I will be REVAMPING the rest of the chapters periodically, they will be marked by REVAMPED at the very beginning of the chapters so check out the story summary every now and then to see when the newest chapter is revamped, when I reach chapter 11 I will then begin working on Chapter 12,**__** so yeah, there's something for you guys to look forward to if you like this story.**_


	2. The Truth and The Promise

_**Alright everyone, check it. I've been wondering about how cool it would be for Crona to have auto-mail alright? The only problem was that I didn't was to get rid of one of his limbs. But, since I decided to make Crona's alchemy super-human in this fanfic, I decided to mix that and auto-mail up a little bit. **_

_**I hope you all enjoy how I did it. I'd like to hear your opinions.**_

_** REVAMPED CHAPTER**_

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_**One Year Later**_

Crona walked into the small town and all of the townspeople currently walking outside couldn't help but stare at the tall twelve year old as he walked with two large crates over his shoulder, one filled with pelts, the other filled with meat. Their looks weren't ones filled with fear however, for they had long since gotten used to the boy in the year that he had began coming to their little town.

Since the night Crona watched his mother die right before his eyes and he made his promise, he tore through his mother's notes looking up everything that had to do with human transmutation, and he saw all of the supplies he would need in order to attempt it. Seeing all of the items he would need Crona traveled through the forest outside the lab and went to a nearby town, and being the natural innocent and hard worker he was, he helped out with jobs around the town for money instead of stealing what he needed.

One day, quite a few weeks after the incident in the lab Crona had finished helping a man repair his cart and was eating one of his incredibly large lunches ~_the chemicals his mother filled him with caused his body to take a larger amount of energy causing him to have to consume large amounts of food~ _which the man paid for in full after a long conversation of convincing Crona to accept. The boy was sitting in the town's diner with the man, enjoying their lunch when a group of bandits decided to come in and started causing trouble. When they made it to the diner Crona was in however the moment they touched him the young boy changed into a completely different person in front of the townspeople and beat each man within an inch of his life before he dragged their broken unconscious bodies to the town sheriff, where he was given a rather large reward for it.

After seeing how much it paid for, Crona began going after more dangerous tasks, like hunting down dangerous bounties, and killing vicious animals in the area. Also, being the skilled Bio-Alchemist he was, he was highly trained in the field of anatomy, human and beast, and he had taken up skinning the pelts and taking valuable pieces from some of the animals he had to kill, and he sold them and the meat of the animals for a nice profit~ you'd be surprised at how good bear and wolf meat tasted when you added the right stuff to it. The skinning had always made Crona feel sick though because of all the blood, but he got over it and pushed through for if it meant getting his mother back than he could deal with anything.

So now, many months later on this present day, Crona made his way over to the town's leatherworker and after he was given a nice price for the pelts of a particularly aggressive group of wolves he went over to the butcher and did the same with the meat he got from them. He then walked through the town towards the supply store so he could gather up the last of the items he needed for his transmutation attempt~ and again you'd be surprised by how expensive high-quality chalk, pots, pans, and beakers were. Once finished with the last of his shopping in the town Crona strolled towards the nearest exit with a small crate filled with the last of the supplies that had just blown away everything he had earned, but he didn't care about that, because he had finally done it! He finally had everything he needed to bring his mother back!

As he walked towards the edge of the town Crona did something that he hadn't done in so many years; he actually smiled when he thought about how he'd be reunited with his mother after so long. Ohhh, the irony of the situation was almost sad; the fact that he was so broken, so miserable that the boy was actually glad to be reunited with someone who tortured him daily. Crona walked through the town smiling happily, but then he stopped when he heard a loud crash and a cry, and when he turned he saw a person pinned by the leg under a large crate yelling in pain.

Crona hesitated at first but then he reluctantly put his own crate down and walked over to the fallen man and he picked up the extremely heavy crate with one hand as if it was nothing. Crona set the box down next to the man and went to help him up, asking if he was alright, but right as he got close the man gave him a dark grin and his seemingly broken leg launched up and he kicked Crona right in the stomach, throwing him backwards. Crona got back to his feet quickly, but then the man clapped his hands together, and it was only now, as the electricity crackled over them, that Crona could see that both were Auto-mail prosthetics as the hands morphed into hammers.

"Wow! I can _not_ believe you actually fell for that you stupid little freak" the man chuckled punching his hammers together "I thought you Gorgons were supposed to be smart" Crona's eye's widened when the man said that. The man noticed his surprise and chuckled "yeah that's right, I know what you are" he said with another dark grin.

"H-how did you find out who I was?" Crona asked nervously and the man chuckled.

"I noticed it once when you were helping out one of these poor saps" he gestured to the many people who were coming to see what was happening "your shirt was off and I saw that mark on your shoulder" Crona's hand unconsciously moved to his circle "now most of us down here in the South don't know much about all the fancy state alchemist pricks from central, but I've heard my share o' the stories."

"But why are you attacking me?"

"Because you're a god damn monster!" the man snapped and Crona looked at him with confusion "you got no idea what kind of sick shit your family's done to people, and it's about time someone did something about it" he charged towards Crona and slammed one of his hammers down, but Crona stepped back, dodging it easily "you see, me and my boys have been noticin' all the alchemy shit you been buying, and if a Gorgon is buying it than it can't be good" he swung his arms relentlessly, trying to hit the boy, but Crona dodged all of them easily, this man was slow, Crona could deal with slow "which is exactly why my boys are gonna take it" Crona's eyes widened again and he turned to see two men lift up his crate and load it onto a cart.

"Hey! Don't touch-" Crona was cut off when the man used his shift in focus to hit him in the head, knocking him down.

"Shut up freak" the man growled bringing his hand back and smashing it down on the boy "you're in no position to tell anyone what to do" the man started smashing Crona over and over again, but Crona wasn't paying attention to the blows, he was staring at the horse-drawn cart riding away with all of his supplies, riding away with his mother "you stupid little bastard, you and your entire fucking family are gonna pay for what they-" Crona's hand shot out of his cloak and he grabbed one of the hammers stopping the man dead "what the-"

Crona squeezed down on the hammer and it imploded before he kicked the man in the chest, throwing him back like the man did to him just a minute ago. Crona got up slowly and took his cloak off, revealing his bare arms as he walked over to the man who was now shaking at the expression on the kid's face. The thing that freaked him out wasn't that he looked angry, no it wasn't a look of rage at all, what freaked him out was that Crona was actually smiling, but the look in his eyes was faded and heartless, it was the look of a murderer.

"H-h-how the hell did you do that?" the man stammered looking at his shattered auto-mail "t-there's nothing strong enough to smash auto-mail except-" short, black, metal claws shot out of Crona's fingertips and a long matching blade shot out of each of his elbows, along with two other short black blades that came out of his knees "… o-other auto-mail" the man backed away as the boy walked over to him and then Crona picked him up by his neck "b-b-but when the hell did you get auto-mail? Y-you never walked anywhere near the auto-mail forger" he gasped as Crona started squeezing "why… why do you… still have skin on your arms?" he wheezed and Crona reached over to his arm and his mark glowed as the skin and muscles on his arm slid away, revealing the thin, flexible, and incredibly strong metal contraptions that covered his bones. The pain he felt as his flesh peeled away would have been torture for anyone else, but he had been taught to deal with pain long ago.

"Momma made me to be good at Bio-Alchemy" Crona said as his mark glowed again and his muscles and skin covered his arms once more "I knew I'd need to be strong in order to go after some of the bounties I saw" Crona grabbed one of the man's auto-mail arms "and she always mentioned to me how smart I was when it came to auto-mail" he ripped the man's arm away, leaving only the node attached to his torso "so I mixed the two together and here I am."

"But... but that's impossible" the man gasped as Crona ripped away his other arm "nobody… is that good with alchemy… no one could… break down and recreate an entire arm."

"No normal person" Crona said reaching down to his belt and pulled out two of his alchemy-grenades, each filled with a purple liquid with a yellow T painted on the glass "but I'm not normal" his circle glowed.

Crona electricity shot into the grenades and they glowed before the glass cracked and exploded and two of his Tangler Snakes coiled around the man's torso and pointed their heads right in front of the nodes.

"So, where are those men going mister?" Crona asked, and it terrified the man how innocent and calm the child sounded.

"You think I'd tell you Gorgon freak?" the man yelled and Crona cocked his head to the side and grinned, and his eyes widening a bit with insanity.

This man was rude, but that was okay, Crona knew how to deal with rude people "remember how I told you how I'm good with auto-mail mister?" the boy asked and the Tanglers hissed before they stabbed into the nodes, and the man cried out with intense agony "do you want to know why I like auto-mail so much? It's because of how deep the science to it is" he giggled a bit as the snakes twisted inside the nodes and the man screamed again "like the nodes here" he tapped the metal with a smile "they're built to connect directly with the nerves inside the body, and no matter who the installer is, no matter how gentle they may be, the pain of connecting the parts is so much worse than anything someone could inflict with any kind of torture" he smiled softly at the man as he screamed "so, can you tell me where your friends went mister? It's not polite to keep secrets" the snakes pushed in deeper, and the man screamed again.

"OK! OK! I'LL TELL YOU!" he screamed and Crona simply looked at the snakes and they responded by edging out "Rush Valley! They're heading for Rush Valley!" he yelled and Crona cocked his head, why would they be heading to the auto-mail capital?

"Why Rush Valley?"

"W-w-we got a guy who's got some pals looking for high-quality alchemy gear. W-we thought we could steal your stuff and get some new parts in exchange for the tools!" he yelled and Crona stared at him before he dropped him.

"Thanks for the help mister" the boy said looking down at the man before he thought of something "… but you still did something very naughty, stealing my things" he said as the man squirmed trying to back "so I think I'll be using your body to get my stuff back" the man's eyes went wide.

"W-w-what the hell do you mean use my body?" he yelled as Crona's Tanglers slithered down onto the man's chest and stayed there.

"Exactly what it sounds like" the boy giggled innocently again as he reached down and put a hand on the man's stomach "I'm really sorry about this mister" he said making the man look at him with confusion "but this is going to hurt, _a_ _lot_" and then his circle glowed.

The people who had come out to watch all backed away fearfully as the man screamed when his body and the bodies of the snakes glowed deep purple, and the scream soon became a gurgled sound until it changed to a sound like a monster roaring. The man's body shifted and grew as the purple color surrounding his body got darker and darker until it was almost black and everyone stared with horror as it kept screaming. The glow slowly faded away from the large new born Chimera and it stood up on its transformed metal legs, which now looked like they belonged to a dog almost, to look at its master. The snakes had fused with the man and the new creation's skin was black and scaly, and its arms were the same, except they ended in cruel curved claws. Crona held out one of the man's auto-mail arms and the Chimera sniffed it before it grunted a conformation that it had the smell.

"Find those men, and make sure they don't make it to Rush Valley please" the boy asked politely and the Chimera nodded with another grunt "you can hurt them, but please don't kill them, I want to talk to them."

The monster grunted again as it bent low and Crona heard a series of cracking and popping as its bones reset until it was on all fours like a dog and it roared before it tore out of the town to follow the thieves, and Crona just walked out after it calmly. The people all stared at the pink-haired boy wide-eyed as he left, in all the time he had come to their town they had never seen him so cruel, so violent, and they'd never felt so much fear. The blades that were poking out of Crona skin slid back into the contraption he built by hand, and his circle glowed as the holes the blades made sealed themselves.

That was a useful little trick his mother had taught him how to do after he wasn't fast enough to get out of the way of one of the Chimera he had to kill. It was based of a thing called Alchahestry which Medusa had picked up after spending time with some travelers from Xing. It was very difficult to understand at first and it had taken him years to master, but when he finally did, the result was amazing. The way it worked was that he pulled out the nanoscopic elements that made up the human body which were in the air around him and transmuted them into the open wounds to seal them up or 'heal' them.

Crona walked down the road for a good ten minutes before he heard a loud roar of triumph, it seemed that his Chimera had caught up with the men. The tall twelve year old walked further and further down the dirt trail for what felt like ten minute until finally, he saw the wreckage of the thieves' cart. He closed in on them quickly, though his pace remained the same, and when he was close enough he saw his new Chimera standing over two men growling at them with a large, undamaged crate over its shoulder.

Crona smiled "good, you didn't kill them" he patted the Chimera's head and it leaned into the soft touch like an obedient pet "good boy."

"W-what the hell is with you kid?" one of the men, who had a rather large auto-mail right arm "I-it's just some stupid bottles of elements and useless tubes" Crona looked at the man and he couldn't help but let some of his anger show.

"Those 'stupid' elements are going to be used for something important mister" Crona said leaning down and grabbing the man by the neck. He picked the man up so his knees rubbed the ground and he gagged as Crona stared at him "you know, momma never liked thieves, I guess that rubbed off on me, isn't that funny?" he asked squeezing the man's neck, but then he looked up and then back at his Chimera "huh, you look a little hungry" he said thoughtfully and the Chimera's long tongue slid out and flicked over its sharp teeth as Crona threw the man back on the ground "they're all yours, enjoy yourself" he said as he took the crate from his pet "when you're finished follow my scent, the door will be open for you."

Crona then turned and walked away, and he could hear the men as they whimpered and then he heard them start screaming as his Chimera roared and tore into them. Crona closed his eyes and tried to block the sounds of their screaming out with the thoughts of his mother. He couldn't afford to get sidetracked right now, no matter how much he wanted to stay and watch.

"I did it momma" he said looking up into the sky, which was slowly turning orange by the setting sun "I finally did it, I'm going to bring you back" happy tears pricked the boy's eyes as he walked into the forest towards his mother's lab.

…

Crona walked through the trees, following the mental map he had of the forest and closed in on the place the lab was. He stopped in a small clearing and began checking the trees until he found a patch of light colored dirt between two burned trees and he put his hand on the ground. His mark glowed and with a zap of electricity down his arm he opened up the passage, leaving it open for his Chimera like he said he would.

Once he made it to the main chamber the boy set the heavy crate down at his feet alongside all the others and he opened them all up and pulling out the supplies. Once all of the cans, and little boxes of elements were out and all of the scales, tubes, beakers and pans were set up on the table, he began splitting the elements up into the correct amounts which he needed.

…

About an hour of careful measuring Crona had finally finished dividing up the elements, and he said the names and amounts as he poured them into the large pan. After he completed dividing the elements up he went to go close the passage to the lab once his Chimera had returned with a couple splashes of blood still on his scales. He told the chimera to go take a bath as he set out a large paper and as it did as he said he wrote out the long contract that the book had described with perfect detail. About the time he had finished the contract his Chimera had finished with the bath, which was good because Crona needed some held moving all of the boxes and supplies to make room for the giant complex transmutation circle that he book showed him to draw in the middle of the lab. Once they had finished that last task Crona set the large pan in the dead center of the circle.

Crona looked down at the circle with pride and excite and when he looked up at his Chimera he couldn't help but smile at it softly "you know… I haven't even named you" the beast cocked its head at its master "huh… you helped me a lot today, taking care of those men, and moving things with me…" he rattled through his brain thinking of something. It had to be something special… something that he could mark with day with "hmmm… hey! How does Ragnarok sound?" Crona asked thinking back to a story his mother used to tell him.

Ragnarok was considered to be the force that would destroy the world and the gods of an entire civilization and bring renewal and new life to the world, just as Crona was going to destroy the military and their god-like Fuhrer and bring about a new world order. It had a good ring to it, and once Crona activated this circle, he and his mother would do exactly as the story said, what name could be more special? More perfect for this wonderful day? The Chimera looked at its master when it said the name, and then Ragnarok grunted, seemingly happy to be given a name finally.

Crona's smile grew as he patted Ragnarok's head "well then, Ragnarok it is" he laughed "alright boy, get ready, because you're about to meet the woman who made me" Crona's smile calmed as he looked back down at the pan in the circle "with all of the elements in place, and the contract finished, there's only one last thing that needs to be added" he said pulling out a small knife and pricking his finger "just a little bit of soul data to wrap it all together."

He squeezed his finger until the blood welled up and then he held it out over the pan, letting about five drops fall into it before he got down on his knees and put his hands on the circle and he then her took a deep breath.

"This is it… I'm finally going to see you again mother" the boy said with a smile before he pushed down on the circle, and it glowed bright blue.

Ragnarok took a step back as the light coming off of the circle reached up to the ceiling and it lit up the entire room as electricity sparked over the inside of the circle and shot into the pan of elements in the center. Little did Crona know at this time that anyone outside the lab at this time was seeing a giant beam of blue light shooting up out of the forest as it darkened the sky above them. Crona looked around the room with amazement, completely taken in by the strange beauty of the sparking lights, it was so beautiful, almost as if the world around him was celebrating the return of his mother.

He gazed around with awe and excitement as the light grew brighter and brighter… but then his look changed to one of confusion when the pretty blue light changed to a dark sick purple. Crona's head shot to the center of the circle when the pan disappeared and a giant oval eye opened up. Ragnarok roared down at the circle and took as step forwards as dozens small black hands shot out of the edge of the circle and wrapped around Crona, but before he could get close five of the hands slapped him away with enough force to crack the wall he hit.

"Wha-what's happening?" Crona yelled when the hands stabbed into him from all around his body "what's going on?"

The pain that was shooting through Crona's body was unlike anything he had ever felt before, and it flared with intensity, getting worse and worse until everything he saw went white. The pain kept growing as the white in his eyes somehow bleached itself more and more until suddenly everything when black.

…

It was dark.

It remained dark for what felt like an eternity for Crona, but then he felt something, almost like a weak gust of wind brushing against his skin. It was only now that Crona realized that his eyes were jammed shut, and once he opened them he found himself standing in an endless white expanse. It seemed to go on forever, nothing but white, white, and more white, but as he turned to see the same thing he finally noticed a small distortion in the shape of a person. He looked closer and found that it was a person sitting down as if they were leaning on something and he then noticed that their entire body was white except for a human left leg and a right arm.

_"Hello there"_ it said with a wispy voice. Crona just stared at the two limbs and it then followed his gaze and chuckled _"oh these? Don't mind them, I usually get rid of the souvenirs I get from the failures, but this later pair…"_ it chuckled again _"something about them seemed… special."_

"Who… w-who are you?" Crona asked and the thing chuckled again.

_"Ohhh, they all ask the same thing"_ it said confusing Crona _"well you see child, I am called by many names"_ it finally answered_ "to you I am the world, I am the universe, I am god, I am truth, I am all, I am one"_ it then pointed straight at Crona _"and I am you"_ then Crona heard something behind him and when he turned he was looking up at a gigantic open door _"you see child, you have knocked on the door, and now the door is open"_ it said as the door opened. Crona watched in terrified awe as the giant eye from before opened inside and the black hands shot out and grabbed onto him, but he looked with confusion and not fear _"well, aren't you a strange little boy?"_ it chuckled with surprised humor_ "the one before you screamed like a baby"_ it said as the boy was dragged into the doors, and they closed, making everything go black again.

Then things started flying by Crona, little bits of information all swirling around him and flowing into his mind, and his eyes widened at what he saw. He floated there in utter silence, but on the inside he was screaming for all he was worth. It was too much, all of this information was too much, he didn't know how to deal with all of these things flooding into his head. Crona saw everything, he saw the beginnings, he saw the middles, and he saw the ends of every process in existence, and then he saw people. He saw people lying, cheating, fighting, and killing. Every evil thing in the world flew by Crona and he began to understand why people did it and this terrified him; no one person should have all of this knowledge, no one child should be shown all of this horror.

The information shot by Crona until his head felt like it was about to explode and then he watched with horror as his body begin breaking down before his eyes. He stared at his skin as it unraveled, and underneath there was some kind of energy spiraling around, and the pain he felt shot up to new heights and it was only then, in the abyss of darkness, steadily having his body torn apart as all the secrets of the world flying by him that he finally screamed. There was another flash of light and Crona found himself back in the white area with the thing still sitting down, and he then collapsed and hugged himself as he began shaking, he was completely terrified.

_"Well? How was it?"_ the Truth asked with amusement.

"I-It… I-I-It was horrible" Crona whimpered looking at the ground with wide eyes, all of those things he had saw, he understood so much now, and he also understood how many things could hurt him too.

_"Aww, that's too bad, I guess you're probably not going to like what's about to happen now"_ it said and Crona looked up at it wide eyed.

"W-what?"

_"You saw all of those things, surely you saw the part about the toll?"_ it chuckled and something seemed to happen to it. It steadily began taking on a reddish hue, and Crona noticed with sudden fear that it felt as though something was being sucked out of him. When he looked down he gave a raspy yelp as he saw his arms shriveling _"the toll must be paid for the information boy"_ it chuckled and suddenly it was right in front of his with a large tombstone-tooth smile_ "it's just like the law of equivalent exchange, __**isn't that right little alchemist?"**_

There was another flash of light, then darkness and this time, when Crona opened his eyes he found that back inside the lab. As he got his senses back he then noticed that he was down on his knees on the edge of the circle, and his body was shriveled and weak from all the blood he lost. The sickly purple light from the circle had finally faded all the way and when Crona painfully looked up form the ground his eyes went wide when he saw the thing in the middle of the circle.

_"No"_ Crona thought as the mauled body of a blonde woman reached a bloody hand out and dragged itself towards him _"no, no, no, this isn't what I wanted!"_ he yelled in his head as the thing put a hand on his shriveled leg.

He looked at it with terror, expecting his death to come soon at the hands of this thing for failing to bring his mother back, but instead of attacking him, it's hand just stayed there _"…Crona"_ the boy heard in his head, and his eyes went all the wider when he recognized the voice _"Crona, why did you do this?"_

_"Mo… Mother?"_ he asked and the creature looked up at him and he saw a deep sadness in its eyes, it's all to familiar eyes.

_"So you tried to bring me back?"_ she asked _"I suppose I should say I'm flattered"_ his mother said with a sad chuckle before looking at him closely. She then sighed as the thing's broken face sagged _"my, my… just look at how you've grown in the year that's passed"_ she said with a bit of pride _"Crona… Crona I am so sorry"_ she said and Crona looked at the creature with confusion.

_"What? W-why are you sorry, I'm the one who failed you-"_

_"No Crona, I failed you"_ his mother cut him off, and he stared at her blankly, not understanding what she just said.

His mother never apologized, she didn't apologize for _anything_, let alone blame herself for something. Why was she suddenly apologizing to him? _"Crona, I've learned so much since I died that day"_ she said looked at him sadly again before she looked up at a nearby shelf, and then her hand stretched out, little bits of bloody flesh falling away from it as it extended _"all this time I thought that the military was to blame for what happened at Ishbal, but since I've died I've seen that they were just pawns in a much bigger game"_ she grabbed onto a container of something black _"I did all of those things to you… I hurt you so much so that I could get my revenge on the people responsible, but all that time my hate was directed at the wrong people"_ she dragged her hand back slowly, and very painfully _"Crona… I have one last order for you"_ she said and Crona looked up at her, a faint glimmer of peace fluttering into his eyes _"those people who killed me… those… those monsters, they are the enemy, not the military… if you are ever given the chance, I want you to kill those monsters"_ she said Crona looked at the beast with obedience _"you have to stop them from ever making this happen again, you have to end them, do you understand?"_

_"Yes Lady Medu-… yes mother"_ Crona said with a weak nod, and this time peace flickered through the creature's eyes.

_"You were always such a good boy… I wish I could tell you more, help you more then this, but there are rule here, rules that even __**I**__ can't break"_ his mother said as the canister fell to the floor and shattered _"Crona… I don't think that I ever told you this but…"_ the black liquid in the container jumped up and swirled around his mother's body and he watched with horror as it began dissolving it _"I am so… so proud of you"_ she said as a happy tear fell from the creature's eye as the liquid ate away at the body until only the head remained _"I love you Crona, don't you ever think anything different… and please… please try to forgive me for what I did"_ and with that she disappeared completely.

The black liquid from the canister then shot down to Crona and stabbed into his skin, filling his body with a jolt of excruciating pain as it replaced all of the blood he had lost. Ever so slowly as the liquid rushed into him Crona began to feel his body again, and when the last drop of the liquid slid into him he looked down at the fresh blood splatter on the ground that he had made. Crona didn't cry this time though, he had something to do, he actually had a purpose, a reason to live.

Crona walked over to Ragnarok and tapped the Chimera's head, and he snapped up with a growl but once he saw Crona the growl died into a whine of concern. Crona didn't say anything though and turned to walk down the hall to the exit of the lab. Ragnarok followed after him quickly as Crona walked through the forest towards the town. He didn't stop once, he just kept going towards the town, a plan already forming in his head which would help him follow his final orders.

After a few minutes of nonstop walking the boy and his Chimera finally reached the edge of the town. The few people who were still out running errands in the night noticed and watched the boy curiously as he walked over to the one of the dead farms that they hadn't gotten around to tearing up yet. Crona looked down at the dead ashy farmland and he remembered what he saw through the door, what he could do here. This was all a process, there were seeds that survived the soil, and the nutrients were all around him waiting to fill them with life. Crona clapped his hands together and his circle glowed before he leaned down and stuck his hands into the soil, and everyone literally dropped what they were carrying at what they saw.

Electricity arced out over the farm and into the air around it, and the H2O and carbon and all the other useful elements in the air bonded together and flooded over the farm until all of soil glowed blue and soon people saw things sprouting up from the ground. When the glow had faded everyone looked at the once dead farmland with shock at the hundreds of cornstalks that now covered it, but Crona didn't even wait for them to say anything. He still had a few hundred to go.

…

And so that's how it went in the time that passed. The shy, normally gentle boy moved throughout the area, speeding up the process of renewal, bringing acre upon acre of dead farmland back to life. Speeding up the processes of healing in wounded people, even regenerating lost limbs which even surprised him, and slowly, day by day, he was gathering the gratitude of thousands, and all of them gladly helped him with whatever he needed. He soon had an entire area behind him, and each of them did whatever they could to help pay their savior back. He no longer had to worry about his Alchemy-Grenades, or repairing the contraptions he put into his arms, the forgers of the south gladly gave him the parts needed free of charge. He no longer had to worry about food; the hundreds of newly back in business farmers and bakers gave him food made with the crops he saved.

And during all this time, one thing, and one thing only, burned in that child's head, one thing kept him going past the point of exhaustion when he used up his energy helping the people who unknowingly helped him get closer to killing the people who took away his mother, and that thing was a revenge darker and more rage-filled than anything before it.

He was going to find those people. He was going to find all of the people who played a part in his mother's death, who played a part in his own suffering, and he was going to make them pay. He was going to make all of them suffer.

And if only he knew how soon that revenge was going to come.

* * *

_**BOOYAH BITCHES! Chapter 2 REVAMPED! **_

_**Tell me what you think people!**_


	3. Crona's First Friend

_**Alright everybody; just wanted to tell you that if you thought Crona would be the only Soul Eater character here then you were mistaken. I've set things up to where most of the mains you love will be in this story in a way that, to me at least, make's sense. I hope you agree. **_

_** REVAMPED.**_

_**Enjoy.**_

* * *

_**One Month Later**_

Colonel Mustang sat inside his office with the lights off next to the projector as the film inside it played out one of Medusa's experiments on her own son. It showed the small pink-haired boy surrounded by five large Chimera, but Roy had seen enough of the videos to understand why the boy didn't look afraid, he had been punished plenty of times when he failed to fight. Roy shook his head with disgust as Medusa actually _commented_ on Crona's performance in the video as the creatures attacked the boy and he tore them apart without mercy. He grabbed onto them and snapped their necks, he ripped them in half as if they were weak toys instead creatures twice his size, and the last one which tried to get away was grabbed by the back of the head and it dissolved with a gurgled scream.

The video ended and Roy popped out the tape, labeled **Experiment-118-Success**, out of the projector and he reached into the box that was recently unlocked by his men. He looked down at the strong-box and he was completely dumbstruck by the fact that in almost an entire year since they raided Medusa's castle they had only been able to unlock two of these chests, and there were still at least three more. He also noticed how the locks and anti-alchemy precautions seemed to get more difficult with each chest.

Roy then began flicking through the dozens of tapes inside the current chest in front of his, but all of it was the same, experiments and tests all labeled in order, all showing the same thing. He was just about to give up with this chest and go get some of his subordinates to finish the rest but then he stopped when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He turned back to the chest and picked out one which filled him with confusion for it wasn't labeled like the others; all it said was **"Why do I do it?"**

Roy eyed the tape with a frown before he slid it into the projector and when the video started up he found himself looking at Medusa sitting in front of that screen again, but this time the screen showed an older looking Crona sobbing on his bed. When Roy looked closer he saw that Medusa was holding a half-empty bottle of wine and she was staring at the screen very, very, sadly.

"Look at him… sitting there, totally miserable" Medusa said before she took a swig of the wine "… he thinks that I can't see him when he's in his room, but I do, I see everything" she sighed before she took another swig as the boy sobbed "my child… my little Crona" she looked down and slowly chuckled to herself, but he saw tears in her eyes "… I remember all the times I used to brag about him when I was with the military… to think I once told my mother I'd never experiment on him like she did on me…oh god I hate this" she rubbed her eyes with her fingers and shook her head "… I wish… I wish that I didn't have to do this to him" Roy looked at the video with confusion "I punish him so cruelly just for acting like any child would in these situations… and for what? Just so I can destroy the military for what they made me do in Ishbal" she sighed again "damn it… there are times when I just don't think it's worth it."

"Than why do you do it?" Roy mumbled looking at the sad woman and the broken child, and then he understood the name of the tape. She didn't know either.

"But it has to be done" Medusa said shaking her head "those sick bastards need to pay for what they did, and if I don't do it than no one will" she took one last swig of the wine before she put the bottle down "I just hope Crona can take the abuse until he's finally ready to destroy those dirty bastards" she got up and walked over to whatever was recording her "you know… I think I'll give him a reward when he's finished with his training… maybe I'll make him some pasta" she said with another sad chuckle "he always did enjoy spaghetti" the screen then went black and the video ended.

Roy took out the video and stared at it before he went digging through the chest, trying to find anything else like this video, but he couldn't find anything. He looked down at the chest one last time then got up and walked over to the light switch and he rubbed his eyes after the lights came back on as he thought about what he just saw.

Medusa regretted what she was doing to her son? Roy thought about this but then he thought back to when Medusa served with him back at Ishbal. She _always_ talked about her son, her little pride and joy, and he also remembered how loyal she was to the state. So what had changed? Why did she suddenly defect?

The thought ended when one of Roy's men, or in this case, his loyal blonde haired female Lieutenant knocked and then walked inside carrying a folder under her arm "Colonel, I'm sorry to interrupt you but we've received some important Intel from the south" Hawkeye said snapping out a salute before she held the folder out.

"The South?" Roy asked with an eyebrow raised, opening the folder "what's going on down there-" His breath hitched and eyes widened when he saw the picture of a pink-haired boy covered in blood splatters surrounded by dozens of mauled bodies. It was Crona Gorgon.

"That child that escaped you and Major Armstrong back in the South a while back seems to have resurfaced" Hawkeye explained as Roy looked through the pictures, some of them filled with the same bloody, body filled images but others filled with things he couldn't understand "he's apparently been going around and doing incredible things, slaughtering entire bandit towns, but that isn't what was shocked everyone when we saw the pictures" she pulled out three picture of the boy standing over a dead field, then in the second the field was glowing, and in the third the field was alive and filled with crops "he's somehow going around and reviving dead crops, not only that but healing people as well, regenerating entire body parts even."

"Do we know anything else?" Roy asked looking at the pictures intently.

"We tracked his movements back to a small town a few miles from Medusa's old castle, but that's it."

"Well then Hawkeye, it looks like we're going to do some investigating" Roy closed the folder with a grin, eager to get out of that damn office and go into the field.

She nodded and took the folder back "oh and Colonel, I've taken the liberty of briefing Major Armstrong on the situation as well."

"Armstrong? Why'd you tell him?" Roy asked with confusion.

"He gave an order that if anything about this child were to come up that he be notified immediately."

"Why?"

"Something about wanting to test his daughter's skills against the boy if the need be" Roy nodded his head, understanding now. Alex never gave up a chance to test his daughter's power "they're already waiting for us at the train-station."

"Alright then" he nodded to himself "well! I guess we should get going then ey Hawkeye?" Roy then walked out of the door eagerly and turned the corner.

"Other way sir" Hawkeye sighed and Roy turned on his heel and walked the other way "useless" she muttered under her breath as she followed her rash Colonel.

…

"Papa can you please put your shirt back on" the ashy blonde-haired fourteen year-old sighed as her father switched through poses flexing for the people around him "it's embarrassing."

"What are you talking about Maka?" Alex loudly asked his daughter, striking another pose "these people simply wish to see a perfect specimen of humanity! I cannot deny them the blessing of seeing one of the fine members of the Armstrong bloodline!"

"But you've been doing it for the past fifteen minutes" Maka growled as her father stroke yet another pose before he finally put his military blue jacket back on.

"Ah, very well, I cannot say no to you" he walked over to his daughter and playfully slapped her back, something that would have thrown any other person a few feet away, but not Maka. She was an Armstrong after all "why is it exactly that you disapprove of me showing these people the beauty of the Armstrong line?"

"I just don't understand why you feel the need to take your clothes off all the time" Maka shook her head and her father just laughed heartily.

"Ah, you are so much like your mother" he shook his head as he chuckled "she always complains about me showing myself off."

"I honestly don't understand how you two ended up together" her father wiped away a joyful tear before his face became serious.

"It is because underneath this rough and intimidating exterior beats the sensitive and caring heart of a lover!" he pounded a fist to his chest "your mother was the only person who could pierce this once sad, lonely, shell and release the flaming passion you see within me today!" he flexed his arms again, and his jacket bulged getting dangerously close to ripping "ohhh how I simply adore your mother! My darling goddess Kami!"

"Papa calm down! You're going to rip your clothes again!" Maka groaned and her father laughed again before he saw the two people he and his daughter were waiting for "ah Roy! Lieutenant Hawkeye! Good to see you!" he walked over and slapped them both on the back, making them both stumble a little.

"Major Armstrong, good to see you too" Roy recovered from the slap, looked over to Maka and gave a polite bow "Miss Armstrong."

"Colonel Mustang" Maka snapped off a salute, and Roy could see the gloves on her hands that matched her father's, except they had two little wings sticking out at the back.

"Please, no need to call me by rank" Roy chuckled.

"I'm going to be joining the army soon so I need to get used to addressing you as a superior sir" Maka said confidently with total seriousness, and Roy just chuckled again.

"You did good with her Armstrong" Roy looked up at the big alchemist who was staring down at his daughter proudly "I'm sure she'll make a damn fine addition to the state alchemists."

"Yes, my little strong-arm is going to go on to do great things" Alex leaned down and picked up his daughter and put her on his shoulder "she's going to be the perfect soldier just like her mother" he said tickling her stomach, making her giggle and blush.

"Come on Papa, not in front of the Colonel" she squirmed around as she giggled "it's embarrassing."

"You aren't in the army yet Maka, so I'm going to spoil you as much as I can before you do join" he laughed heartily as she hugged him around his neck before he put her down.

"So… do you know anything more about this then we do Major?" Roy asked curiously.

Alex's face took on a more serious look at the mention of the mission "not much, all I do know is that this boy has been going throughout the South helping the people suffering there" he crossed his arms "from what I've heard it seems he isn't using his alchemic abilities for evil, but instead for great good, bandits have always been a problem in the South."

"Do you think that he could be state alchemist material?" Roy asked as the group boarded the train.

Before, Roy never would have considered saying something like that about a child, but after what happened with Edward Elric, the military has widened its perspective for state alchemists. Dozens of teens have been found who have the power, the skills, and the resolve that make a state alchemist, and many of them have began willingly joining the army.

"Perhaps, but we'll need to track the boy down and find him before we can pass final judgment on him" Alex said as the group took their seats "I hope that he really is as innocent as I believe, but if not then that's why I brought along my daughter" he put a hand on Maka's shoulder "this boy may be strong but no one can beat an Armstrong! Isn't that right Maka?"

"No doubt" Maka leaned down and resting her head on her father's side "though part of me hopes that he isn't bad, he sounds like someone Black Star would love to spar with."

…

The group sat on the train for a good amount of time before they finally reached the station at Rush Valley and from there they began traveling towards the town from Hawkeye's report. On the way there Roy and Alex looked out the side of the carriage they rode in and stared at the fields mostly.

"Look at that" Roy's voice was a whisper of awe as he looked at the men working in the field "I remember passing by here… all of those fields were piles of ash a year ago."

Alex nodded "it's truly a wondrous sight."

Maka looked at the fields then frowned up at the Colonel "how could this kid bring all of this back?" her frown deepened from what she had heard from her father "and he's been growing people's limbs back too?"

Roy nodded cautiously "Crona Gorgon is a… special case" he chose his words carefully "his body was augmented to increase his alchemy along with other things."

"Augmented?"

Roy rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably "he was… experimented on… to try and make an alchemic super weapon."

A scowl slowly formed on Maka's face "someone did that to a kid?"

Alex nodded sadly "one unfortunately about your age" Maka's scowl only grew.

They were silent for the rest of the ride until they made it to the town from Hawkeyes's report. After paying the driver and stepping out of the carriage they looked around and almost every one of the townspeople took one look at them and their eyes narrowed before they turned and walked away, giving Roy the impression that these people weren't going to be very helpful. They glanced around the town then decided where to go first and walked over to the local supply store, hopefully Crona had come through here at times and they could pick up a trail. When they walked inside the clerk looked a little nervous before he came out to greet them, and Roy noticed the simple transmutation circle on the back of his right work glove.

"Uhh, hello there" he began, looking up at Alex nervously "w-what can I do for you?"

"We just need some information" Roy crossed his arms and leaned against the wall next to the door.

The clerk walked over to a shelf and pulled out a rock, and then a simple transmutation circle on the back of his work glove glowed and the rock changed into a key, then back into a rock, then into a ring "uhh, w-what do you want to know exactly?"

"There was a child that came here over the last year, we want to know a little about him" Roy said calmly as the rock shifted into many different shapes. Everyone had their ways of dealing with stress; apparently this man's was alchemy.

"W-well there's a lot of kids that come around here" the clerk's eyes shifted nervously "I-I can't know about all of-"

"You know who we're talking about" Roy walked up to the man "just tell us what you know and we'll be on our way" the clerk's hand was shaking so bad that he dropped the rock, and then Maka walked forward and put a hand on the man's shoulder.

"We aren't here to hurt him" Maka said reassuringly and the clerk looked down at her "we just want to find out about him so we can find him, but we only want to talk" the clerk looked at her closely, and felt that she was telling the truth because he eventually sighed and looked down.

"… Alright… alright I'll tell you" he took another look at Maka and breathed in "… his name's Crona for starters" he sat himself up on the counter "… he started coming to our town about a year ago like you said, and when we first saw him" he shook his head "god, we knew right away there was something wrong with him"

"What do you mean 'wrong with him'?" Alex asked and the man shook his head more.

"His eyes" he said looking down "they looked… dead… broken, alone, miserable" he went through a list of words, all telling the group that this child was hurt "at first we all thought he'd be trouble, but then he started helping out anywhere he could in exchange for cash" the man got up and picked up the rock and started changing it again "every time he got enough he would come by here and buy a bunch of supplies: scales, test-tubes, pots, pans, and elements, he always bought a whole lot of elements" he walked over and put the rock back on the shelf "and after he bought the stuff he would always go off and disappear into the forest near the town, and he went on like this for the entire year, coming in town, helping out, getting money, and then buying supplies, but then it all changed about a month ago."

"What happened?" Maka asked and the man shook his head again.

"One day the kid came in and bought another batch of supplies, and after he did he did something that freaked everyone out, he smiled" that confused everyone.

"Why would that freak you out?" Roy asked crossing his arms again.

"Oh he had smiled before when he was helping out around the town, sure, but all those times his eyes were the same, they still had that dead look, but when he bought that last batch of supplies, a light flicked on in him, for the first time in that year he had actually been happy" he said with a little smile, but then he shook he head "but… but then those men showed up and ambushed him."

"What happened?" Maka asked again.

"One of them with auto-mail arms and legs acted as a decoy by looking like a guy who got pinned by a heavy crate, and when Crona went to go help him, he turned his hands into hammers and attacked him" the man started shaking again "t-t-they stole the kid's crate of supplies and then… t-then he just snapped!" he closed his eyes and shook his head "oh sure, we'd seen him fight before, when he saved the town from a group of bandits, b-b-but what he did to that man was… w-we had never seen that kid act so vicious… so cruel."

"What did he do?" Roy asked leaning on the wall.

"He tore the man's prosthetics off and used these two weird grenade things to form two freaky snakes-"

"Wait, he transmuted two Chimera on the spot?" Roy got off the wall and stared at the man "without a circle?" he asked immediately thinking about Edward.

"No he had a circle" he pointed to a part in between his neck and shoulder "a little transmutation circle branded into his skin, but yeah, he made two snakes with sharp piranha teeth and made them stab into the nodes on the guy's body" everyone in the room winced, they had all at one time in their lives seen how painful it is when someone connects auto-mail parts "he tortured the guy until he told him where his friends were going and then he… then he…" the man looked down.

"He what?" Roy asked urgently.

"He turned the man into a Chimera" everyone took a step back, even the giant Alex's eyes widened.

To create a Chimera took immense alchemic ability and extreme focus, and much more to create a successful human Chimera. There's no way a person could make one on the spot right after a fight, no one could have that much alchemic ability.

"Those two snake things got on top of him and the kid put his hand on the guy's chest" he started shaking again "the kid apologized" he said with a shaky laugh "he actually apologized to the guy before he changed him… oh god, he screamed so loud, it was horrible" he closed his eyes and shook his head again "a-and when the glow finally faded the guy was a bulky pitch-black Chimera with auto-mail legs and a white X on its face, and then he told it to go after those men and he walked out of town after it, totally calm, just like as if he was walking off to go after a bounty."

"Is there anything else?" Maka asked putting her hand on the man's shoulder again "anything else that you can tell us that'll help us find him?"

"… The forest" he finally said "it had started to get dark a couple hours after the kid went after those men, and then out of nowhere this giant beam of light shot up out of the forest, no one had ever seen anything like it" he shook his head again "and then when it had gotten completely dark some people saw the kid come back again, but there was something different about him. His eyes were filled with a deep sadness but there was something else in them… he had a fire in his eyes, like he had a purpose he had to complete" the man walked over to the door and looked out at the green fields "those fields were dead… totally scorched from a freak fire that happened a few months back, and we hadn't gotten around to digging it up yet, and we were all confused when we saw him walk up to it" he looked back to the group "then he put his hands into the dead soil and then he transmuted raw elements out of the air and used all of it to grow the seeds that survived the fire, it was incredible, we'd never seen him do anything on such a scale before."

"So whatever that light was, was what gave him the power to do it" Roy walked over to the door and looked over to the forest "thank you for the information, you've been a great help" he walked out of the door, but the clerk grabbed his arm.

"Please… h-he's a good kid, he really is" the man looked almost scared "please don't hurt him."

"Hopefully we won't have to" Roy shrugged the man off and then others followed, but Maka stayed and gave the man a polite bow.

"Thank you for your help" she said softly "and don't worry, we're not going to hurt him" the man seemed to relax when he heard it from her.

"You know… the kid never had a friend in the town, all the other children were too scared of him" he said looking at Maka sadly "if you do find him… can you promise me that you and your friends will treat him well?"

"I promise" she nodded before she walked out of the shop to catch up with the others.

When she caught up Alex looked down at his daughter with a prideful smile "you did very well back there Maka, you handled that just like your mother would" he smiled, putting a hand on her shoulder "she had something about her, something that just made people trust her" Maka smiled at that.

Her mother was off on a difficult mission from Central. She was off in the North hunting down a terrorist cell that had based its operation in the area. Maka simply loved it whenever her dad talked about her mother.

"Alright everyone, be on your guard, we don't know what to expect out here" Roy pulled his gloves back and flexed his fingers while Hawkeye pulled out her pistol "I don't want anyone getting hurt because they were reckless."

The group cautiously walked through the forest until they smelled something faint, and when they finally recognized it the smell made them all a little queasy. It was the smell of rot left behind by a dead body. They followed the stench until they found a small passage that was between two trees with strange burn marks covering them and Hawkeye volunteered to lead.

Hawkeye led the group down the tunnel, and the smell was getting steadily worse, until they all had to cover their noses with their arms, or handkerchiefs, and when they reached the room at the end they all closed their eyes and looked away. There was blood and small chunks of meat, which everyone believed without a doubt to be human, all over the floor.

Roy looked back down at the floor and noticed something underneath the blood. When he looked closer what he saw chilled him to the bone "my god" he knelt down to look at the giant transmutation circle underneath "… I had a feeling this was the case, I just hoped that I was wrong."

Hawkeye looked down at the circle and winced "is that a… was this circle used for a-"

Roy nodded "a human transmutation, yes" he rubbed his eyes "damn it, I hoped that I wouldn't have to see one of these again" he stood up and walked towards the entrance "we need to find this child, and quickly, if he's anything like the Elrics, then he's going through hell right now, only he's all alone" the rest of the group struggled to keep up with him "god damn it! An entire month all by himself after going through something like this" he shook his head as they made it outside and quickly made it out of the forest.

"Colonel, wait a second! Stop and think. We don't even know the first place to look for him-" Hawkeye was cut off when she heard a loud, high-pitched scream like nothing any of them had ever heard before along with a number of explosions. The group looked to the distance and saw dark plumes of smoke rising to the east of the town they were just at "I stand corrected" she amended before running towards the town they were just at "hurry up and start making your way towards that smoke, I'll catch up with you, I'm going to go get a carriage!" she called back to the others.

"Alright you heard the lady, let's move!" Roy took off in the opposite direction towards the plumes.

Maka and her father followed him, and after about ten minutes of running they heard a carriage coming up behind them, and looked back to see Hawkeye leading a large horse-drawn cart.

"Sorry, but this was the best I could get on short notice" she apologized coming to a stop in a little ahead of them.

"It'll have to do, just get us to that smoke pronto" Roy ordered jumping up into the cart.

Maka hopped up onto the cart behind him, and then Alex did as well and the wooden cart groaned a little beneath his massive weight. Hawkeye cracked to reigns and the horses whined in protest to the extra weight, but they soon picked up their pace and the group was quickly closing in on the town.

The closer they got to the small town the louder and more high-pitched the screaming they heard from before became, and the explosions seemed to become more and more frequent. When they felt they had gotten close enough they stopped the cart and jumped out just as a building exploded in some kind of sonic detonation. Roy and the others blocked their faces from the shards of wood and when the dust cleared from the wreckage they saw a man attempting to drag himself away. He had almost made it out of the building but then a metal foot came out of the last of the dust and pinned him to the ground. The others watched with chock as a bulky, pitch-black creature with auto-mail legs and a bleach-white X on its face grabbed the man by the back of his shirt and held the man up to its face.

It then laughed "aww, sorry about that asshole, but you're not getting away that easy" Ragnarok chuckled, then smiled at the man menacingly before taking a deep breath "… PEEEEEEEYAAAAAAH!" his mouth opened up with another of those high-pitched screams, and the group all covered their ears.

Everyone painfully watched as the man began screaming along with Ragnarok, and they all noticed how he slowly began bleeding from his eyes, nose, and ears until he went limp in the Chimera's grasp. Ragnarok laughed at the dead man in his arms "aaand that's the end of that" he chuckled and then his mouth stretched wide open and he shoved the man's head in and… _snapped_ it shut, taking it off completely.

Roy shook off the ringing in his ears and looked at the Chimera with shock. Crona had made something like this on the spot? "You, Chimera!" Ragnarok looked at the loud man with his version of a raised eyebrow "are you with the Gorgon child?"

"Who's askin?" Ragnarok shot back, tearing one of the man's arms off and biting a chunk out of it.

"A member of the state alchemists" Ragnarok grinned at the man.

"Oh really? And why have the, oh so kind and generous, military dog's graced us Southies with their presence?" Ragnarok asked mockingly, and then he tore off another chunk of meat.

"We want to speak with your creator" Roy answered, and Ragnarok threw down the mutilated corpse and crossed his arms.

"Oh please, just call him by name, that kid doesn't need any fancy titles" Ragnarok chuckled shaking his head "and what the hell make's you think I'll help you? You military dogs have just made the kid suffer, I don't think he'd want your help anyway" he suddenly smiled a sharp-tooth grin "in fact… I think he'd be really happy to hear I killed a couple of you, god knows that kid needs something to smile about once in a fuckin' while" he cracked his neck and flexed his fingers, letting his claws slide out as he took another deep breath "… PEEEEEEEYAAAAAAH!"

Ragnarok let loose with another one of those earsplitting screams, but something was different about this one, mostly that his scream was directed towards Roy and the others watched the sound-waves tear through the air and slam into the Colonel, throwing him backwards (If you've ever watched Ben 10 Ultimate Alien, imagine Echo-Echo screaming). Alex lunged towards Ragnarok and punched him right in the face, but instead of the creature flying away, it felt to Alex as if he was like a normal person punching a brick wall, and his attack resulted in a metallic clang.

Ragnarok grinned at Alex's surprised expression "sorry big guy, but I'm made to be unstoppable" he punched Alex in the stomach, knocking all the air out of his lungs, again surprising the man. It felt like he was getting hit by a car.

Hawkeye whipped out her pistol and began shooting Ragnarok as he tossed Alex to the side, but he only chuckled as the bullets grazed harmlessly against his hard scales. He ran towards the Lieutenant with one arm pulled back for a punch that would snap the woman's neck but right before he reached her a large hand burst from the grabbed the Chimera and held him to the ground. Maka lifted her hands ~which were still arcing with electricity~ and ran towards Ragnarok to try and knock him out, but Ragnarok laughed again then screamed. The scream vibrated the hand to such an extent that it exploded, showering Maka with debris and blinding her with dust, letting him hop back to his feet without trouble and grab the girl by the head before smashing her headfirst into the ground.

Ragnarok leaned his head down next to Maka's ear "you really thought that would work on me she-pig?" he growled into her ear as he brought his hand back and flexed his claws "I'm made to be unstoppable, what the fuck don't you understand about that?" he laughed and was about to slash her throat open. His closed in on her but right as he was about to reach her he stopped and looked up "… well I'll be damned" he made an irritated noise "pfft, looks like it's your lucky day dogs" he let go of Maka and bent down, his body popping and cracking as his bones reset until he was on all fours like a dog "looks like that dumbass screwed up again and lost the leftovers."

Ragnarok took one last look at Maka then tore out of the town, leaving the group to get to their feet painfully "what… what the hell was all of that about!" Roy asked loudly, shaking his head and then slapping his ear, trying to get the ringing to stop "damn it! I thought that kid was supposed to be a good guy!"

"Well…" Alex pushed himself up with a groan "it appears… that while Crona is a good child, his Chimera is a bit unpredictable" he rubbed his stomach where Ragnarok hit him and then walked over to Maka, who was trying to push herself up, her head throbbing from being slammed into the ground "and how unpredictable he was… in all of my years, my fists have never been thwarted, and I certainly have never been on the receiving end of another's fists" he helped his daughter up and then patted her on the back "but at least this experience wasn't all bad, I always knew my little strong-arm was powerful" he chuckled as Maka rubbed her head.

Maka shook her head once more and looked up at her father with a frown "why do you think he just stopped and ran off like that?"

"Perhaps the boy shares a psychic link with his Chimera, it's not unheard of" Alex suggested while Roy looked towards the direction Ragnarok ran out of town.

"Come on, it sounded like he was heading out to find the kid and help him track the leftover bandits" he hopped back onto the cart and the others followed.

…

They rode after the Chimera they had just fought, and soon noticed that they were coming up on another town, specifically one with a train-station nearby. The group jumped off the cart and then split up, Roy and Hawkeye going to investigate the town, and Maka and her father going to the train-station.

Immediately upon walking into the large building Maka and Alex heard someone scream, and when they ran towards the voice, past dozens of people running the opposite direction slowing them down, they saw a tall pink-haired boy surrounded by four men, each with pistols in their hands.

"Man I told you we'd be getting' famous one o' these days" one of the bandits chuckled leveling the gun with Crona's head "just imagine the name's we'll be getting' for killing this fuckin' freak" the others laughed with him, and they didn't notice Maka run towards them, ignoring the whispered warning of her father "alright you pink-haired fucker, you wanted us, and now you're gonna-" Maka punched the man in the side of face, knocking him to the ground and startling his friends.

"What the- who the fuck is this?" the other thugs pointed their guns at Maka, but then two looked back when they heard something behind them.

They turned just to find themselves staring at the chest of a blue uniform "gentlemen" Alex grabbed the men and smacked their heads together, knocking them unconscious "it's not polite to point a gun at a lady. Surely your mothers taught you that much?"

"Fuck you man!" the last man standing pointed his gun at Alex, but then Crona pointed his hand at him and a black lance shot out of his palm and impaled him.

"Bloody Urchin" black needles exploded out of the man's body and he collapsed to the floor after the lance retracted.

Crona looked down at the men on the ground and then nodded to himself with a smile as a small puddle of blood began to from under the man he killed. He then turned to look at the new comers and then thank them for their unexpected help, but then he noticed the man Maka punched lift himself up and point his gun at her.

Alex turned to his daughter to congratulate her on her take down, but then he caught sight of the man too "Maka!" he yelled, but the man's finger already wrapped around the trigger.

"You fucking bitch!" Maka turned to see the man, but then something jumped in front of her just as the man fired "teach you to hit me!"

The man fired off five shots, and Crona took a step back with every impact ~odd metallic clangs ringing out with each hit~ until his head snapped back when the last one hit him in the forehead. Maka stared at Crona with wide distraught eyes, feeling sick that she just watched someone get shot in front of her, and she felt even worse because it was someone she promised to help.

She nearly collapsed at the loss of feeling in her knees as a drop of black blood dripping onto the ground, but then she watched with shock as Crona's move his head down to look at the man "thank you for your help" Crona said to Maka as he took off his cloak (I didn't really explain it well the first time, but basically just imagine him wearing the same sleeveless shirt as Envy under the cloak) "I'm really sorry for asking, but can you hold this for me?" he held out the cloak, and Maka took it with shaky hands, staring at the pink-haired boy with disbelief "thank you" he then walked towards the man and Maka watched black blades shoot out of his elbows and fingers as he closed in "you wanna know something mister?" he asked the man as he tries backing away "there are a lot of things I don't know how to deal with" the man's back hit the wall and he stared up at Crona's blank eyes "but one thing I do know how to deal with is people like you" he grabbed the man by the head and held him up.

The man pointed his gun right up against Crona's head and fired off the rest of his clip, but it had absolutely no effect, they just bounced off with metallic clangs, and he looked through Crona's fingers wide eyed as the circle on Crona's shoulder glowed and the small cuts healed. Crona squeezed down on the man's head and he screamed louder and louder until Maka heard a sharp cracking sound and then the man's head imploded under Crona's grasp.

He then threw the dead man down with disgust "ok Ragnarok, you can clean up" Crona bent forward as his circle glowed and Maka watched as his back inflated and a large black creature exploded out and formed into the Chimera she saw earlier.

What happened next whatever, neither she or her father were expecting "you think I need your permission to eat?" Ragnarok asked, and then he punched Crona in the head.

"Ow" Ragnarok then grabbed him and started giving him a noogie "ow-ow-ow-ow-ow! Ragnarok, stop it! There are people around!" Crona whined, his voice changing from a cold killer's to a little kids and Maka and her father frowned with increasing confusion.

"So?" Ragnarok just noogied Crona harder.

"It's embarrassing!" Crona whined "these people are all thinking that I'm weird, and I don't know how to deal with listening to them think that!"

"You think I care about your stupid psychic crap?" Ragnarok let go and shoved Crona away as he prowled over to the bodies "I don't care if these people think you're the fuckin' devil, as long as I get to eat then they can think whatever they want."

Crona looked at him with a hurt expression and then turned and walked over Maka. He gripped his other arm as he stood over her then slowly reached out "uhh… h-hello there" he said in a quiet, timid voice as he bent down "a-are you alright?"

"Yeah… yeah I'm fine" she took his hand but was looking at his head the entire time and didn't see any hint of the bullet wounds "how… how did you-"

"I-I-It's kind of hard to explain" Crona rubbed the back of his head with his free arm before pulling his arm back from Maka quickly "… y-you're with the military right?" he asked looking over to Alex and seeing his uniform

Alex nodded "indeed, we are."

Crona actually smiled at the giant "I-I had hoped you would show up eventually."

"Then why did your Chimera attack us?" Alex inquired, and Crona's eyes widened with horrified shock.

"H-he did what!" Crona's attention snapped back at Ragnarok who was in the middle of chomping on a man's arm "Ragnarok you attacked them!" he yelled.

"Hey, I just wanted to eat em" he shrugged as Crona's jaw dropped.

"What?" Crona yelled, then looked back at Alex and Maka and his face dropped "ohhh they're thinking I'm crazy now" he looked down, hearing some of their thoughts.

"Wait a minute… are you saying you can read our minds?" Maka asked looking at the boy oddly.

Crona twiddled his fingers "w-well… I-I can't really read minds, well, I-I mean I can it's just…" she could tell that he was struggling to explain as his eyes shifted around the building "I-I can only catch certain things, l-like what people are thinking of me, a-and mostly it's the negative things" he added looking a little sad "b-but sometimes I can hear other stuff" his eyes finally focused on her "y-you're thinking that I'm lying right now" his eyes then widened and he blushed a deep shade of red "you… y-you think I'm cute?" Maka's face reddened lighter then Crona's, but to the same effect "oh no! I-I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have said that!" his eyes started shifting around again and his grip on his other arm tightened as he began mumbling to himself _"ohhh, I've gone and made this awkward, she's going to hate me now, I-I don't know how to deal with someone I just met hating me already."_

"Ok, this is getting weird" Maka's attention shifted when she saw movement and looked to the entrance to see Roy and Hawkeye run in.

"Armstrong! We heard gunshots, what happen-" Roy froze when he looked around the room at the blood splatters, then to Ragnarok, and then to Crona "uhh… ok… I guess it's been taken care of then" he scratched his head as he looked at Crona "uh… so I guess you're the Gorgon kid huh?" seeing a picture is one thing, but in person the boy seemed much less threatening _"this scrawny kid is the one who's been slaughtering bandits?"_

"Hey! I-I resent that" Crona grumbled weakly, and Roy looked at him with confusion "I-I know I don't look like much, b-but I'm not scrawny" Roy looked at him with surprise when he used the exact word he thought of "I-I know you're only thinking it, b-but it still isn't nice."

"You… you can read minds too?" Roy asked a little disbelievingly and Ragnarok sighed.

"Oh boy, I got a feeling that this is gonna take a while" he put a hand on Crona's back, and Crona's circle glowed "alright dumbass, call me when you're finished with these assholes, I'm going to get some R and R" his body dissolved into a big black mist and slid into Crona's back, shocking everyone.

"I-I'm really sorry about him" Crona apologized "he doesn't mean to be rude-" Ragnarok came out and hit Crona in the head.

"Oh yes I do! You think I care what the fuck these guys think? No, screw them1" Ragnarok yelled and everyone heard him.

"Ragnarok, please" Crona pleaded as the arm slid back, and when the Chimera said no more he looked back at the others "I am so sorry about him" he bowed, and the group looked at him with confusion "… um, I-if you come with me, I-I can explain things to you… I-is it alright if I get some food first though?" he asked with some embarrassment "u-using my powers kind of takes it out of me" he rubbed the back of his head again and the others looked at each other and shrugged at the same time.

The group walked through the town and everyone noticed that the townspeople all waved and greeted Crona with smiles until they finally came to a stop inside a restaurant where a red head met them with a smile like everyone else "h-hello miss Sidney" Crona said with a nervous smile "um, I-I'm sorry for asking, b-but is my credit still good? I-I kind of forgot my wallet back home" he said apologetically, and the woman giggled and gestured to an empty table.

"Crona, you gave my dad his arm back when we couldn't afford an auto-mail replacement, as far as I care, your credit's never going to dry up" she smiled.

Crona waved his hands "o-oh you don't have to do that! I-I'm happy to pay you back for the food if it's too much-" the woman waved his protest away and walked out from behind the counter and led the shy boy and the others to the table.

"And again, thanks to you, my dad's farm is alive and growing again, so we've got more then enough cash flowing in along with what I get here at the restaurant" she sat him down, walked into the kitchen at the back, and came back with bowls and plates of assorted foods on both of her arms "so your credit's never going to dry up" she set the food down in front of the boy and turned to the others "so, what can I get for your friends?"

"Oh, it's no problem madam" Alex said and she looked at the group and nodded to herself, and went to turn.

"Uhh, actually, I could go for some of those pork-buns" Roy pointed at a plate filled with meat-cakes.

"Coming right up" she turned to leave.

"Oh, uhh, how much do I owe you?" Roy reached into his pocket for his wallet, but Sidney waved her hand.

"Don't worry about it, any friend of Crona's eats for free" she walked back into the kitchen to get Roy's order.

The group all looked at the amount of food the woman gave to Crona with their eyebrows raised, and then their eyes widened when he began inhaling the food as if he was a man who hadn't eaten in weeks.

"Wow" Maka managed to say "they really treat you good around here don't they?" Crona stopped halfway in the process of taking a bite of a slice of pizza and blushed.

He swallowed and looked to the side with embarrassment "uhh, t-they all think they owe me for helping them and try to do what they can to pay their debts" he spun his fork around in a plate of spaghetti slowly "I-I try to tell them that I'm happy to pay for thing, b-but they all say they owe me and give me free stuff" he took a bite of the pasta.

"Well you did save most of the South from bandits and famine, so it's the least they can do" Roy said after Sidney came back with his plate of pork-buns "sooo… I guess the first thing to ask is what happened to you" Roy said taking a bite out of one of the buns "more specifically… what was with that human transmutation circle?" he eyed Crona closely as his hand twitched and then he put the fork down, looking very sad.

"Did… did any of you ever wonder what happened to my mother?" Crona asked looking down.

Hawkeye covered her mouth "oh god, so that blood was-"

"The result" Crona didn't even seem to notice as the tears pricked his eyes "s-she was killed in front of me… I watched those people kill her right in front of me a year ago" he reached up and rubbed his eyes with his wrist "I-I tried to bring her back, b-but it didn't work, and… and…" he started shaking and Maka reached over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, you don't need to tell us if it's too hard" Crona shook his head.

"N-no, you wanted answers and I-I owe you that much after what Ragnarok did" he took a breath and wiped his eyes with is arm "… w-what exactly do you want to know?"

Roy looked at Crona sadly, then sighed "we had another alchemist who tried doing the same thing as you, and he lost his arm and leg in the process… did you lose anything?"

Crona picked up a knife and cut his wrist, and everyone looked at him with concern, but he didn't even wince as the black blood welled up around the wound "I lost my blood, t-the thing that came out of the circle-… my mother… she pulled out a glass of something black from a shelf and smashed it over us, and it dissolved her and replaced the blood I lost" the blood seemed to sink back into the wound and it closed itself up.

"This other alchemist also gained a unique ability; he's able to transmute things without the use of a circle. Do you have any special abilities?" Roy asked looking at him curiously.

"I-I can't do anything like that other alchemist, b-but ever since that night I-I've been able to hear people thoughts about me" he looked around the table and then added "a-and I'm also able to do this" he pointed his finger up and everyone at the table stared in disbelief as the forks and knives floated in the air "I-I can lift things with my mind, b-but nothing bigger then a pistol, anything bigger just shakes" the silverware floated back down to the table.

"That… that's amazing!" Maka looked at Crona wide eyed.

"But there's a few things I don't understand still" Roy crossed his arms and looked over at Sidney who was taking care of another table "how in the hell did you revive all of those farms and regenerate people's limbs?"

"Well… I-I wouldn't really say I revived them, m-more like I just grew them by scratch" the group looked at him with confusion and he sighed and scratched the back of his head trying to figure out how to word this "well… basically I took the elements I needed out of the air around me and used the bio-data of the seeds to grow the plants that were in the field originally" everyone looked at him with surprise again and he squeezed his arm, he didn't know how to deal with people staring at him, it made him uncomfortable "m-my mother always made me study the anatomy of almost every recorded living thing until I knew them by heart."

"And the regenerated limbs?" Alex asked.

"T-the same thing, I-I take elements out of the air and create the limb using the person's bio-data."

"Huh… and you know, come to think of it, how did you take all of those bullets and come out without a scratch?" Roy asked, puzzled.

"That would be because of Ragnarok, w-when he's inside me I use the extra matter a-and I use my powers to harden my blood so almost nothing can get through any further than my skin, and then I heal myself the same way I give people their limbs back."

"Oh yeah, speaking of which, what exactly is up with that Chimera of yours?" Roy asked, taking another bite of his pork-buns "how did you create something like that on the spot?"

Alex nodded when the Colonel brought up Ragnarok "yes, and why ~when you seem to be a fine young man~ is he such a… such a…" he waved his hand around trying to think of a word.

"Ass?" Maka suggested and her father shrugged, not knowing any better way to explain it.

"Well… h-he wasn't always like how he was now" Crona picked at his food again "at first he was just a very efficient hunting animal, b-but then I tinkered around with him some, adding onto him, trying to create a better weapon" he picked up and nibbled on a cookie "I gave him four lungs and made his vocal cords more powerful so he could scream like he does, and fused any metal I came across into his skin, so his scales are about as strong as a tank" then he scratched the back of his head and looked uncomfortable "a-and my mother always told me to never let anything go to waste, s-so I took the remains of the people we killed and added them to Ragnarok, and he eventually became smarter and soon was able to think and talk like a normal human, but… I-I think the people I used affected the way he thinks" he looked to the side remembering how Ragnarok has become "so now he's rude, sarcastic, ignorant, sexist-" Ragnarok popped out of Crona's back and punched him in the head, cutting him off.

"Hey, I can hear everything you're saying asshole!" he yelled punching the boy a few more times and then sliding back into him "fuckin god damn bitch."

"-And very violent" Crona finished, rubbing his now pounding head.

"It's still impressive" Roy said after he finished off another bun and wiped his mouth "well!" he clapped his hands then looked over at the Major "I think I've seen enough to make a judgment, what about you Armstrong?"

Alex crossed his arms and nodded "the boy is able to take an entire clip of pistol ammunition without taking serious damage, that on its own would make him a powerful asset, that along with his alchemic prowess makes him an excellent candidate" he looked at Crona and smiled "and he also showed a will to protect innocent bystanders, something I can appreciate in anyone, yes I think he'd make a fine addition to our forces."

Crona looked at the alchemists with confusion "huh? W-what are you guys talking about?" he asked nervously _"ohhh, why is it whenever I __**want**__ to hear someone's thoughts I never can?"_ he groaned inwardly.

"Crona, we're talking about recruiting you for the state alchemists" Roy grinned at Crona's surprised expression "I know that you might not want to, taking into the equation of what happened in your past, but if you do join you will be given power over vast resources and information" Crona locked up at that last part. Could this be a way to help him find those people? "But you'll need more then our good word to get in, you'll need to pass an examination first" he added, and Crona slumped a little "but" Crona looked up "luckily there's going to be an examination soon, in a couple of days actually, and I have to say, I think there's almost no way you wouldn't pass."

"B-but what am I supposed to do to even get there?" Crona asked wondering how he was supposed to get to Central "I-I don't know anyone from Central, o-or where to even go, or-"

"You could come stay with us" Maka offered with a smile, looking over to her father for approval.

The large man nodded in consent "yes, I don't think that would be a problem."

"O-oh you don't need to do that!" Crona shook his head and then twiddled his fingers "I-I don't want to be a burden to anyone, especially after all the trouble I've given all of you."

"Don't worry, it wouldn't be a problem, our home in Central is only for business anyway" Alex patted Crona on the back, and the others noted with some surprise that he took the heavy blows like her father was a normal person "besides, I owe you a great deal for protecting my daughter, so it's the least I can do" he chuckled heartily.

"Y-you're sure?" Crona asked just making sure.

"I'm am."

"Well… okay then" Crona nodded.

Maka smiled "great! So when do you want to leave?"

Crona couldn't help but smile shakily when he saw Maka's expression "I-I suppose any time is fine, t-there hasn't been anything that the local authorities haven't been able to handle except this last group, a-and no one's been in any serious accidents either-"

"Great!" Maka grabbed Crona's hand and he gave a surprised yelp as she yanked him out of his chair and towards the door "well let's not waste any more time then! I want to get you back to Central as soon as possible to introduce you to the others" the rest of the group looked at them with grins as Maka dragged the boy out of the restaurant towards the train-station.

Sidney leaned against the counter and sighed watching them leave "well there he goes, huh, you know, it's a shame really, we're all going to miss him" she chuckled a little "but at least he's finally made a friend, he definitely deserves one."

"He really does seem to be a fine young man" Alex commented getting up and pulling out his wallet "it almost seems evil to take him away from all of you" he pulled out a large amount of cash and walked towards Sidney "here, this should pay for the meals."

"Oh no really, you don't need to-" Alex held his hand out.

"No, no, a proud member of the Armstrong line would never leave a meal unpaid for" Sidney took the cash and saw that there was much more then what would pay for the meal "keep the change" he smiled and walked towards the door "come along Colonel, Lieutenant, as my daughter said, she wishes to get back to Central ASAP."

"Understood Major" Roy chuckled and he and his Lieutenant got up to leave "we can't disobey a superior now can we?" he nodded over to Sidney "good day miss" they walked out of the restaurant and quickly caught up to Maka and Crona.

* * *

_**Ok, now I know what you're all probably thinking right now. "Crona's psychic and telekinetic? No way." Well looks at it this way, FMAB focuses quite a bit around science, so how else would he be able to make his blood do all of those things he could do in Soul Eater, then with telekinesis? And also, look at all of the other things in FMAB, you've got Ed who can make things just by clapping his hands, you've got Al who had his soul bonded to a suit of armor, then you've got the Homunculi who can transform into anything, stretch their fingers into whips, eat anything, etc. So is telekinesis really that hard to believe? And the psychic part, well, I just thought what the hell, why not?**_

_** What do you think about it?**_


	4. Kind Friends, Unexpected Developments

_** REVAMPED Chapter**_

* * *

_**Two days later**_

It had taken the group about a day to return back to Central from the town they found Crona, and when they reached the Armstrong's business home it was already nearing dusk. When the group had arrived at Central and split up, Armstrong and Maka led Crona back to their small home in the city and showed him around for a little bit before getting ready to go to bed. It had taken quite a bit of persuading from _both_ Maka and Alex to get Crona to agree to sleep in one of their spare rooms, but after fifteen minutes of reassurances he finally gave up on his protests and accepted, at least he had been smart enough to bring along some of his night clothes so he didn't have to impose too much.

Quite a few hours later, the boy was now currently sleeping soundly in the room he was given by Alex and Maka and he had to admit he liked the feeling of a soft bed underneath him, he had spent to many nights on stone floors. The morning light was already beginning to peek through the curtains of the room, illuminating it and the rest of the empty house. Maka's father had already gone off to Central command to give his report early in the day, and Maka had left a little later to go tell her friends about Crona and get them together to introduce them to him. She had told the boy the previous night that he could sleep in and just to be ready a few hours early to come and meet her and her friends.

And now, about the time she had told Crona to get ready to leave, Ragnarok was looking down at his sleeping creator with an annoyed scowl. This stupid kid was the one who took him away from all that free food all because he wanted to be friends with that damn she-pig, and here he was about to sleep the day away and blow her off. He looked at the clock and when the minute hand ticked forward he snarled raising one of his metal legs "Crona! Get your dumbass up!" he kicked Crona in the butt and the boy was pushed out of the bed with a surprised yelp "that stupid cow is expecting you in a couple hours, and I'm sure as hell not letting you blow it with her and make leaving the South a big waste of time!"

Crona rubbed his head, looking up at Ragnarok with irritation and a couple seconds later his alarm went off and the Chimera looked down at it with an eyebrow raised. When did that get there? "Ragnarok" the boy groaned rubbing his throbbing head "I set that up for a reason" he got up and hit the button on the alarm.

The Chimera crossed his arms irritably, looking the other way "well I didn't see it."

"How could you not see it? It was right there-" Ragnarok grabbed him and began giving him an angry noogie.

"Damn it Crona! I didn't see it alright! But is that really what you need to be worrying about right now?"

"R-Ragnarok, come on! Let me go! I need to go get ready to meet with Maka!" Crona whined. Apparently he hadn't heard Ragnarok after the Chimera rudely pushed him out of bed.

"Then hurry up!" Ragnarok dissolved and slid back into Crona's body growling "I swear to god if you mess it up with this girl and this ends up being a waste of time I'm gonna put night-crawlers in your food."

That snapped the boy awake "Wait Ragnarok, don't do that!" he whined looking at his back "that would make the food taste terrible, and I don't know how to deal with terrible food!"

"Then move your ass damn it!"

…

After Crona finished a quick breakfast, got dressed in his usual pitch-black, tight-fitting, short-sleeved shirt and pulled his cloak on, he went out to the place Maka had said to meet her. The boy also had to unfortunately deal with dozens of rude comments from Ragnarok about how dumb the situation was for him, and how they could be relaxing back in the South right now. Crona managed to ignore the angry rants however and was able to look around a bit as he walked through the streets and the awe that filled him as he stared at the buildings helped quite a bit. This place was so different from what he had seen from the South, it was all so much bigger.

When he finally reached the place Maka had told him about ~a large plaza with a fountain in the middle of it~ he found the girl waving at him with two other people with her. One of the people was a snow white-haired boy wearing a black jacket over his clothes plus a black head band, and the other was a black-haired girl with a long pony-tail, wearing a rather tight looking tan dress with a strange yellow star on her left breast, a grey belt, and a black scarf. Crona couldn't help but look at the star on the girls breast, noting how strange it looked, but when he got closer he noticed that it was actually a transmutation circle with a pentagram in the middle, and an eight pointed star inside the center of the pentagram. (Of course he wasn't staring at her boobs, he isn't like that _**:**_**/**.)

"Hey there Crona!" Maka called him over and he nervously waved back and walked over to them.

"H-hello" he looked at the other two people and they smiled at him with polite greeting of their own.

"I'm glad that you could come today"

The boy frowned "w-what do you mean? I wouldn't ignore you" he shifted around and looked down "I-I mean you are my… m-m-my friend."

Maka's smile softened "I'm glad to hear that" she patted his shoulder and then looked at her friends "oh well, let's get down to it, I'd like to introduce two of my close friends" she gestured to the white haired boy first, and it was only this close that Crona noticed his blood red eyes with surprise "first off, meet Soul "Eater" Evans, our scythe loving alchemist" the albino nodded and held out a hand.

Crona nervously took the hand and lightly shook it. He knew that he shouldn't, that it was invasive and wrong but he couldn't hold back his curiosity "um… I-I know this may sound rude to ask… b-but are you part-"

"Ishvalan?" Soul asked with a grin as Crona nodded with embarrassment "yep."

Maka nodded at Crona's surprise "yeah, you see, his mom and dad met a while before the Ishvalan war, and before you ask, no, she isn't treated bad at all for her ethnicity" she explained before Crona could ask "she's proved herself many times with the people of Central and she's treated equally."

"Yeah, and thankfully most people in Central aren't a bunch of dicks" Soul shook his head and sneered "racism is totally uncool."

Maka chuckled then she waved over to the girl "and then this here is Tsubaki Nakatsukasa" she bowed to Crona.

"Hello there Crona, it's nice to meet you" she said politely and Crona quickly snapped down in a bow to her as well "Maka's told us quite a bit about you."

Maka nodded with a smile "Tsubaki here is a special case here in Central."

Crona frowned again "'special'?"

"She's very smart and powerful alchemist, all the way from Xing" Crona's eyes widened with surprise again and Tsubaki rubbed the back of her head and blushed, embarrassed "she's able to transmute all kinds of weapons like shuriken throwing knives, throwing stars, even a kusarigama, she's basically a ninja alchemist when you take in how stealthy she is" Crona noticed with confusion as a scowl then covered Maka's face "a huge difference between her and her partner."

Tsubaki then looked at Crona and she sighed to herself, making the boy look back at her nervously "o-oh no, d-did I do something wrong?" he asked quickly, getting ready to apologize, but then Tsubaki waved her hands and smiled softly.

"Oh, no, no, you didn't do anything wrong" she assured him and he slowly calmed down "I'm just really sorry that my partner Black Star didn't come with me, I could of swore he was right behind me" she apologized to Maka, but the other girl just waved it away.

"It's alright, they'll be meeting each other sooner or later" Maka wrapped an arm around Crona's shoulder and the boy blushed at the contact as she led him towards one of the exits of the plaza "but for now, let's head over towards Central Command, my dad took care of all the paperwork for him already for the exam, so I wanted to show Crona the city on the way before it's his… turn for…" she trailed of when they heard someone yelling something, and it was getting louder every second. What the heck was that?

"yyyyeeeaaaaaahhhHHOOOOOOOOOO !" Maka looked up just in time to see a blue haired boy ~with the same circle on Tsubaki's breast planted on his shoulder~ speeding down towards them from the air.

Crona, somehow sensing the danger, instantly, yet gently pushed Maka away and brought his elbow back right as Black Star got close and it knocked the air right out of him. Crona reached back and grabbed Black Star by the collar and threw him over his shoulder and slammed him head first into the ground, then held his arms behind him and put him in an arm lock then electricity arced over his hand and a black curved knife formed out of the palm of his hand and he held it under the boy's neck.

"Oh my gosh, Black Star!" Tsubaki yelled with concern leaning down next to Crona, who looked back at her, his cold expression switching to one of confusion.

"W-wait this is your friend?" Crona asked with startled realization then he let go of Black Star and backed up and the knife slid back into him "o-oh no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so-" Black Star shot up straight and burst out laughing, confusing him.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Man Maka, you've got a strong friend!" he yelled getting up and dusting himself off, somehow not even phased by being slammed headfirst into the ground "he'd have to be if he could stop the great assassin Black Star! I like him!" he walked over and slapped the boy on the back, and then Maka closed her eyes trying to control her anger and pulled out a large book then raised it over her head.

"Makaaaaa… CHOP!" she slammed the book down on the boy's head and he fell to the ground, dazed by the sudden and powerful attack "what the hell is wrong with you Black Star! You don't just go and attack people at random like that!" she yelled irritably, but the boy just got up and laughed again.

"Damn Maka" Soul chuckled looking at Crona with a grin "your friend's getting cooler by the minute, I haven't seen anyone able to stop Black Star like that before."

Crona on the other hand didn't think this was cool at all "I-I'm sorry if I hurt you" he apologized but Black Star just kept laughing.

"Oh please, it'll take a lot more then that to hurt the great Black Star!" the boy laughed and Maka shook her head sighing.

Tsubaki bowed to Crona apologizing "I am so sorry about him, it's impossible to stop him when he has his mind set on something, and he insists on attacking anyone new to see how strong they are" she explained and Crona just waved his hands.

"N-no it's alright, I-I don't blame him for anything… b-but you're absolutely sure you aren't hurt?" he asked Black Star and the others looked at the boy and smiled. They had a feeling that they were going to like Crona.

"Well then, if no one else is going to randomly come out and attack him, let's go show Crona around" Maka put her arm around Crona's shoulder again.

Soul shrugged "sounds like a plan."

"O-ok" Crone nodded timidly.

…

Maka and her friends then led Crona through the large city of Central, passing dozens of people on then street along with cars and Crona looked around with awe. He had never seen so many people in one place before, and most of these building were about as huge, like smaller versions of his old castle.

"This place is amazing" Crona breathed out and the others chuckled at his awestruck expression. They couldn't blame him though, they felt the same way the first time they toured the city.

"Yeah, this is really one cool city aint it?" Soul chuckled, then he looked over and saw a food stand and smiled a shark-tooth grin "hey, you guy's up for a little snack?"

And without any warning Ragnarok burst out of Crona's back, startling everyone but Maka "oh hell yeah! I thought you'd never ask!" he yelled and the others stared up at him wide eyed. He was staring at the food cart with hunger, but when he noticed no one moving he looked down at Crona and then the others, finally noticing their expressions "the hell's wrong with you guys? You never seen a Chimera before?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

Tsubaki's shock changed to awe as she looked up at Ragnarok "oh wow! A real Chimera! I've never seen one this close up before! Did you make him yourself?" she looked down at Crona who gave a shaky nod "that's amazing! And you fused him into your own body too?"

Crona scratched the back of his head "w-well not exactly… Ragnarok?" the Chimera shrugged and came out all the way, then stood up to his full height, making Tsubaki's eyes go all the wider.

"That's amazing! He can come out of you whenever you want too?" her eyes were sparkling as she stared from Ragnarok to Crona, who had a shaky, embarrassed, smile "I've never even heard of anything like this, oh my gosh, this is incredible."

"Yeah don't mind her" Soul chuckled as Tsubaki darted around Ragnarok, looking him over "she's got a Chimera fetish and a fetish for any other deep alchemy like that."

"Yeah, but I think it's fair to warn you that this particular Chimera is a total jerk" Maka crossed her arms as Ragnarok snarled at her.

"Oh you wanna go she-pig? Well come on I'm right here!" he advanced on her, but then Crona grabbed his shoulder.

"No Ragnarok, you're not touching her" he ordered, and Ragnarok glared at him but then to everyone's surprise the giant Chimera obeyed the twig-like boy and backed away.

"Whatever, I don't give a damn" and again, without any warning, he punched Crona in the head then slid back into him "you better buy me something good to eat while you're out here you little bastard or I'll make sure you regret it later."

The others looked at Crona with concern as he rubbed his head "you're just gonna let him hit you like that?" Soul asked frowning "that's not cool man; you shouldn't let him hit you."

"No it's alright, I-I can deal with pain" Crona then sighed "thanks for worrying though" he smiled weakly and the other's still looked at him with worry.

Maka put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head "Crona, that's not a good thing, no one should be ok with pain."

"When pain is all you feel for most of your life you learn to get used to it" Crona chuckled sadly "and when there's no one around to comfort you it makes it all the easier" his eyes seemed to glaze over as he began remembering all the pain he's gone through "yeah, I've gone through a lot actually" he chuckled again as his head lolled to the side "huh… shocking, burning, cutting, stabbing, ripping, smashing" he trembled and gripped his arm tighter with every word until his nails actually bit into his skin drawing blood "yeah, I know how to deal with all of it, there's almost no pain I don't know how to deal with after every-"

"Stop it" he snapped out of whatever he was remembering and looked at Maka with a frown "Crona, don't ever say anything like that again" she lightly grabbed his arm and pulled out a handkerchief then gently rubbed the place where Crona broke his own skin "I don't know anything about what you've gone through, but I know that what you need to do now is forget about it" she looked at him sadly "and I made a promise to take care of you and I'm going to keep it, so if you need any help forgetting that stuff, just talk to me."

Crona looked at her sad face then looked down, instantly feeling guilty "I… I'm sorry, I-I shouldn't have said any of that-"

"No it's alright, you haven't done anything wrong" Maka shook her head and Soul scratched the back of his, feeling guilty himself now.

"Uhh, you know what, I'm not really all that hungry, how about we just go back to going to Command" he suggested.

"Oh, no! No, we can still go eat if you want to, I-I don't want to ruin your day just because I couldn't keep my big mouth shut" he remorsefully gripped his arm as his eyes shifted around, unable to look at the others.

Soul raised his hand and Crona cringed, expecting to get hit "nah it's cool man" he patted Crona on the back gently and the boy opened his eyes and looked confused. Soul wasn't angry? He wasn't going to hit him? "Besides, from the way Maka looked when I said it she was probably gonna grill me for stuffing my face again" he chuckled and the others laughed along with him.

Crona was still surprised that he wasn't hit for messing things up and Maka soon noticed his confused expression "Crona… did… did you think he was going to hit you?" she asked with surprise.

The others eyed Crona with confusion as he rubbed his arm "sorry, I-it's just… t-there were a few people in the South that… that didn't really like me because of who I am."

"Oh… oh man" Soul's actually took a step back "you mean people actually hit you back there?"

Crona nodded and Maka's face hardened "well you don't have to worry about that anymore Crona, because no one here is going to hit you" her face softened as she smiled warmly, but then she scowled over at Black Star "well except for this idiot that is, but he doesn't mean it" she smiled again and patted Crona's shoulder softly and he couldn't help but smile back "now come on, there's still a lot of stuff to show you around here."

"O-okay" Crona nodded.

…

And so Maka and the rest of the group led Crona towards Central Command, stopping every now and again to show something new to Crona, and his awestruck expressions and questions at each introduction made the others all smile and laugh. It surprised them how he acted like a small naïve child whenever he saw something he didn't understand but eventually ~and a little surprisingly on Crona's end~ the group stopped to get an ice-cream treat and Maka got around to explaining to them what happened to Crona during his childhood.

"… and so that's why he's the way he is" Maka finished after taking a bite out of the bowl of ice-cream she had gotten.

The others were now all looking at Crona sadly and Tsubaki was even crying silent tears that had started halfway through the story as their ice-cream melted inside of their bowls and cones, but Crona didn't notice their expressions for he was too enthralled with his own dairy treat, trying to understand what he was supposed to do with the cone in his hands.

Maka ignored the other's sad looks and chuckled a little at his focused look "hey Crona, if you don't hurry up it's going to melt" he looked up at her and then smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with embarrassment.

"Uhh, I-I don't really… know what to do" he blushed more as she laughed.

"All you have to do is lick it" she explained simply.

"Just lick it?" he looked at her with puzzlement.

"Yeah, like this" she leaned forward and licked off the back of his cone "mmm, I love chocolate" he blushed all the deeper "well go on silly, try it" he nodded and looked back at the soft-serve. He stuck his tongue out and have it a hesitant lick, and his eyes widened while the corners of his mouth perked up a fraction "well? What do you think?" Maka asked raising an amused eyebrow at his new expression.

"I-it's sweet… a-and cold" Crona giggled a little, he felt like a child having candy for the first time "I-I've never had anything with much sugar in it before, b-but I think I can deal with this" the others finally snapped out of their depressed funk and they all laughed softly at his statement "what?" he looked around at their happy faces with confusion "d-did I say something funny?"

"Its ice-cream dude, what is there to deal with?" Soul chuckled "just sit back and enjoy it, that's all there is to it" and demonstrating this, he scooped a large spoonful of half-soupy ice-cream into his mouth.

Crona smiled a licked at the ice-cream more. This was nice. He'd never sat down with many people before, and he certainly never did it with people his age, but now here he was, sitting and laughing with kids his age, kids that he would dare to call friends even though he'd never really known what makes a friend until this point. He looked over to Maka as she ate her ice-cream and laughed with her friends and he couldn't keep the smile off his face. She was _weird_, really weird, but in a good way. He'd never heard of someone just accepting a new friend as easily as she had with him, and he was pretty sure that he'd had to get to know her over a long course of time before he ever got to do something like this with her. Yet here he was, sitting down and eating ice-cream with this strange, accepting girl and her friends.

His smile remained for a little longer as he enjoyed this new feeling of acceptance… but then Ragnarok came out snatched his ice-cream cone, snapping a small part of it off at the bottom which stayed in Crona's hand "h-hey Ragnarok that's mine!" he whined, but it was too late because the rude Chimera had already dropped it into his mouth and swallowed it whole "my ice-cream" Crona looked up at Ragnarok with distraught eyes.

The others all stopped eating and glared up at Ragnarok "what's a matter with you?" Maka yelled at the creature that just stared back at her and snickered.

"Nothing, I'm just having a little snack, besides the dumbass owed me anyway" he snickered, then liquefied and went back into Crona, who was looking down at the tiny piece of waffle-cone he had left sadly.

Maka's expression changed from angry and chastising to soft and caring once she saw the look on his face "hey Crona" she rubbed his back "here, you can have some of mine if you want" she lifted her bowl up and Crona looked at her with surprise.

"What? O-oh you don't have to do that, you paid for that with your own money" he looked back down at his miniscule piece of cone "b-besides, I-I've still got this much-"

"Come on Crona, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't let you have some after what that jerk did?" she asked, then she scooped up some of her ice-cream "I'm not taking no for an answer, so open up" Crona blushed at her statement.

"B-b-but you ate off of that one" his blush deepened "I-I don't know how to deal with eating from other people's spoons, a-and besides, I-I could get you sick-" Maka and the others laughed at him again.

"Sick with what? As far as I've seen, you're healthier then a horse" Maka chuckled and then held up her spoon again "now come on, say ah" she put on a pouty face.

Crona looked from the spoon to Maka's pleading features and then timidly took the spoon in his mouth and he couldn't help but smile when he was met by the sweet taste of strawberries.

Black Star began laughing as Maka pulled the spoon back "aww, Crona and Maka sitting in a tree, K-I-S-" Maka slammed ~an out of nowhere~ book onto his head as Crona's blush deepened even more.

"Shut up Black Star, I only just met him! I'm not one of those trashy girls who would go after someone I just met!" Maka fumed, her own face burning, and the others, even Tsubaki, burst out laughing as Black Star dizzyingly pushed himself back up.

"Oh come on Maka, you got to admit, he _is_ cute" Tsubaki chuckled and Crona's blush hit new levels of intensity "and from the way he acts I think he may even be an undercompensator" Maka's face burned all the deeper, but Crona didn't understand what Tsubaki meant.

"Oh my gosh Tsubaki, you're such a perv!" Maka yelled and the others laughed all the harder and soon even Crona was laughing along with them, his laughs may have been small, but they were still there.

"See what I mean, he looks adorable when he's laughing" Tsubaki put in and Crona giggled and blushed a little more with a small 'thank you' "hmm… you know something…" she looked between him and Maka closely "… I really think that you two would make a nice couple" Crona stopped laughing, looked down and blushed deeply along with Maka.

"Hear-hear" Soul chuckled "and seeing as how ol' tiny-tits here probably couldn't turn on a light-switch, little naïve Crona here may be her best chance of getting that cherry pop-" Maka again slammed another book down upon a skull, and Crona couldn't help but wonder where she kept such a large book, not to mention wonder whatever Soul ment by the things he said. What did cherries have to do with this situation?

Maka crossed her arms over her chest defensively and huffed "shut up Soul, just because I won't hit Tsubaki for being a perv doesn't mean I won't hit you" she grumbled "and I'm very attractive thank you."

"Oh come on Maka, if it weren't for the skirt and pig-tails that chest of yours would get you boy status anywhere" Black Star scooted away with a laugh just in time to dodge the book, which actually cracked the stone he was sitting on. Maka almost looked like she was on fire, she was so mad.

Crona looked between the two, began panicking, and tried thinking of a way to diffuse this situation "uh, uh, I-I think you're pretty!" the group all stopped what they were doing and looked over at the boy with surprise.

"Excuse me, I think I may have a slight concussion" Soul rubbed his head "but did you just say what I think you just said?" Soul asked with a chuckle.

Crona gave a shaky nod and blushed "I-I think she's pretty, s-she looks nice I mean."

Maka looked at him warmly then smirked to herself mischievously _"I wonder what'll happen?"_ "Aww thank you Crona" she leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the cheek and his eyes widened with surprise.

He reached up and touched his cheek "you- you just- why did you- what just-" Crona sputtered out at a loss of words and the others burst out laughing, and some of them even fell on their backs they were laughing so hard as he fumbled trying to say something.

"Flattery will get you anywhere these days Crona" Maka chuckled after taking a few deep breaths, then she pulled out a coppery pocket-watch "well guys, I think we've had enough fun for now, the examinations will be starting in a while" she hopped up and expertly tossed her bowl into a rather far away trashcan "and there's still some people I want him to meet before it's his turn" she pulled Crona away from the fountain they were sitting on, and he was still blushing, trying to come to terms that a girl had just kissed him out of nowhere.

…

The group didn't stop for anything else as they moved towards Central Command, and soon they were standing at the front of the giant building, which Crona looked up at wide eyed _"my mother wanted me to attack _this_ on my own?"_ he thought as they walked up to the gate and Maka showed the guards their exam papers _"there's more people in here then in most towns, I don't think that I could handle all of them even if I tried."_

_"Oh please, I could kill these bitches in my sleep"_ Ragnarok said in the boys head _"you need to stop being such a bitch one of these days and suck it up, cause we're gonna be killing guys whether you like it or not."_

The boy rolled his shoulders uncomfortably "s-so who are we meeting now?" Crona asked, ignoring Ragnarok's comments as best he could.

"Well first up we should go meet with Stein" Crona's eyes widened a fraction, recognizing the name on the spot.

"Wait… Stein… Franken Stein?" Maka looked at him with some surprise.

"You've heard of him?"

"M-my mother sometimes told me about the old days when she was with the military" he scratched the back of his head, feeling even more uncomfortable "a-apparently they were a… couple at one time" the others all looked at him and couldn't help but stare laugh with disbelief.

"Stein? I don't know man, I don't think I could ever see that guy with anyone" Soul chuckled looking at Crona with utter disbelief "you're serious? I'd of thought he'd cut a chick open before kissing her."

"Y-yeah, b-but she told me that she was curious about him, s-something about experimenting new things" the group walked inside and Maka led them towards the scientific wing of Command "s-she was curious about his alchemy, s-something about electricity, I-I don't really remember it that much though."

"Well then, I guess you're going to find out in a second" Maka pushed open a door and Crona saw a white-haired man bent over a table, focused on whatever was in front of him "Crona, I'd like you to meet, Professor Franken Stein" the professor finally noticed their presence and turned, that's when Crona noticed the big screw that was melded into his head, and Crona also noticed a transmutation circle on the top of the screw. It looked like it had a star of David-like symbol with two intersecting lightning bolts in the middle.

"Ah, Maka, how good to see you" he grinned, then he looked over at Crona and his eyes widened a fraction, then narrowed "and who, might I ask, is your friend here?"

"Professor, meet Crona Gorgon" Stein smiled a huge smile that freaked Crona out. Why was he looking at him like that?

"Ah, Crona Gorgon, I knew you looked familiar" he reached up for the screw on his head and Crona stared with disbelief as he twisted it, making it click in his skull "my, my, how you've grown since I last saw you…" he stepped forward and looked at Crona closely "and since that time I have heard quite a few things about you Crona, quite a few interesting things" his hand shot into Crona's cloak, grabbed his arm, and he produced a scalpel out of nowhere and cut the boy's outstretched arm "so it was true, you really do have black blood" he smiled to himself, scraping the bloody blade on the inside edge of a test-tube, as the cut healed itself "oh, how I wanted so bad to dissect you when I heard those stories" he let go, and Crona's hand shot back into his cloak where he gripped his other arm with fear "and now here you are, like a wrapped present just waiting to be opened up" he smiled another one of those terrifying smiles and Crona began trembling, but then the man laughed, changing completely "but I would never to that to the friend of one of my best students."

Maka patted Crona on the back and smiled, and he instantly calmed down "don't mind him Crona, he may act all scary but he's really a nice guy when you get to know him, and trust me, he can be a real livewire when he wants to be" she and the others chuckled a little at the inside pun "and with a name like the God-Shock Alchemist that's kind of a given."

"G-God-Shock?" Crona asked nervously.

Soul put a hand on the wall, and Crona noticed a ring with an odd transmutation circle on it, it had a circle with two crossed scythes with four smaller circles inside the corners "you know that electricity that always happens during an alchemic reaction?" he asked as electricity arced over his hand and the wall slid into his hand and formed into a small gray scythe, it looked almost like a small handheld farming scythe "well this guy here is able to somehow latch onto that electricity and use it" he tossed the small scythe over to Stein, who caught it and electricity arced over his own hand as the scythe changed into three scalpels that he held in between his fingers, but Crona noticed that the electricity was still arcing over his hand "it's some freaky cool stuff" Soul chuckled.

"Thank you for the compliment" Stein grinned a little, snapping his hand to the side, sending the scalpels into the wall with a _thunk_, then he pulled out his silver pocket-watch out of his lab coat and clicked it open "well… it looks as though you should all hurry; I believe your examinations will be starting soon… I think Kid is already there waiting, something about rearranging the hallways" he shook his head and chuckled.

"That sounds like Kid" Maka and the others laughed, and she pulled Crona back out the door "alright Stein, we have to go now, and I hope that the next time we talk you'll be talking to us on equal ground when we pass these exams."

"I'll be looking forward to it!" he called after them, then he went back to the dissection table he was at the rare bird on it sweating profusely "now, where were we my fine feathered friend?"

Maka led Crona and the others deeper into the large building and the boy looked into the windows as they passed, seeing some of the examinations in process and he watched with awe at the wondrous alchemy he saw inside. They moved towards the area that their papers told them to go to, and when they got close they saw three people near a door. One of them was a black haired boy but Crona noticed that there were three white half-lines in it when they got closer and the boy also had on a black suit. The two others were two blond girls, each wearing grey cowboy looking hats, some rather skimpy red shirts and while the tall one had long jeans the short one was wearing short-shorts. Crona noticed the circles on the backs of the boy's hands ~ he presumed that this was Kid~ and he saw a triangle with an odd skull in the middle of it (his dad's mask, all you need to know), and three smaller triangles surrounding the big one. Crona then looked at the girls and saw they had the same symbol on their hands, only the tall one had it on her right hand, and the short one had it on her left.

"Hey there Kid!" Black Star called over, but said boy didn't seem to notice and was looking up at the area over the door with sickness written over his face.

When Crona got close enough he saw that it said Examination-Room K, and didn't understand the problem "ohhh god, that K is just sitting there, mocking me" Kid groaned staring up at the letter sadly "so asymmetrical and there's nothing I can do about it/"

The tall girl next to him sighed and scratched the side of her head "gees, give it a rest Kid, it's a stupid letter" the other blonde started giggling as Kid fell to his knees.

"But what kind of person am I if I just let such a terrible asymmetrical crime go unpunished? I'm garbage that's what I am, filthy dirty garbage that doesn't deserve to live" the small blonde burst out laughing and patted his head repeatedly.

"Hahahahah, looky Liz, Kid's getting all bummed out again!" she laughed and the other girl shook her head and sighed.

"I know Patty, just leave him be, he'll get over it like he always does" Liz looked down at the boy and then scowled "but it still get's annoying as hell!" she kicked him in the butt and the other girl, Patty, laughed all the harder as Kid slumped face-first into the ground.

"Hahahahah, go sis!" she cheered.

"I-Is he alright?" Crona asked with concern, and Liz nodded, then shook her head down at Kid.

"Oh don't worry about him, he'll be fine" she turned to see Crona and her eyes seemed to flash almost "well hellooo cutey" she chuckled and looked over at Maka who was holding his hand and her smile got all the bigger "well look at you Maka, you finally got yourself a boyfriend, and a cute one at that" Maka and Crona both blushed and she let go of his hand quickly.

"N-no w-we're only friends" Crona stated quickly and Maka nodded.

Maka brought her fist up to her mouth and coughed, regaining her composure, though her face was still rather pink "uhh, Liz, Patty, Kid, I'd like you to meet Crona Gorgon, one of my new friends I met two days ago."

The sisters both waved at Crona and gave a happy "hello" in unison as Kid picked himself up.

"Yes hello there-" Kid stopped when he saw Crona's hair and his face was filled with sick anger again.

"Um… w-why are you looking at me like that?" Crona asked nervously "d-did I do something wrong?" he didn't like that look.

"Your hair" Crona looked at him with a confused frown "it's so… _asymmetrical_" a pair of scissors appeared in his hand and he advanced on Crona "must fix, have to make symmetrical, have to-" Liz lightly punched him in the head and he snapped out of whatever had him "what… what just happened?" he shook his head.

"You had another OCD fit when you saw that guy's hair" Liz explained as Patty walked up to Crona and looked him over closely.

"Huh… he _is_ cute" she smiled as Crona blushed again "you sure you two aren't dating?" she asked Maka who nodded quickly "maybe I can have him then" she leaned in a little too close and Crona stumbled back and she giggled childishly "ah, don't worry I'm just kidding" she walked over to Kid and kissed his cheek "I'm already taken."

Liz looked at Kid and gave him one of the most venomous looks Crona had ever seen and Patty saw her and giggled "oh right! I'm not supposed to that in front of sis."

Soul chuckled at Liz and walked over to her "aww, come on Liz, let her have some fun, you can't stop her from getting older" he wrapped his arm around her waist and gave her a quick nip on the neck.

Liz shivered from the contact and then smiled "alright, but only because you asked" she kissed Soul on the forehead.

"Yay! Freedom" Patty yelled then she grabbed Kid and pulled him into a full on, tongue in the mouth, kiss which he gladly accepted.

Crona was feeling very awkward standing here watching them do this "uhh, s-so what are we supposed to do now?" he asked as Patty pulled back, taking some of Kid's saliva with her.

Kid coughed and readjusted his jacket "well, the examination for the teen alchemists will be starting in a few minutes, and me and the girls are up first here actually."

"Yeah, and let me tell you that you're in for quite a show" Liz chuckled as the door opened up "and now let's get this show on the road."

Crona and the others looked through the windows as the three walked inside, where Crona saw Roy Mustang, Alex Armstrong, and a silver haired state alchemist who had a piece of wheat in his mouth sitting up on a very high, court-like table. Kid said something and then two alchemists at the back of the room clapped their hands together, slapped the ground, and changed the floor into a large shooting range. Kid, Liz, and Patty crouched down and slapped their hands on the ground, and then the floor slid into their hands and changed into pistols, two for Kid, and one for both of the sisters.

All three twirled the pistols in unison and Crona noticed how Kid had his pinkies over the triggers and thought to himself how that could be in any way comfortable, but he forgot it completely when he began firing the pistols off like they were automatic. Liz and Patty joined him and Crona watched with awe as they hit the bull's-eyes over and over again until their weapons ran out of ammo.

The judges all nodded their heads with impressed looks and then Roy said something, and the two alchemists at the back clapped their hands together again and the targets healed themselves and began moving around, very quickly. The three gunners dropped their useless weapons, made another batch of guns and then proceeded to hit the fast moving targets, hitting the bulls-eye's with more speed and precision then anything Crona had thought possible.

The judges all nodded and this time Armstrong said something, and the two alchemists clapped their hands one last time and the floor moved towards the center of the room where a gigantic golem formed. The three gunners slapped their hands on the ground as well and the floor moved up their arms and changed into some very dangerous looking cannons, one on Patty's left, one on Liz's right, and two on both of Kid's (you all know what the Death-Cannon looks like). They all fired at the same time and when the cannon shells hit the golem it exploded in a rain of stone and dust, and the judges all clapped their hands with mildly impressed looks, then said something, and the two sisters hugged each other and laughed while Kid smiled.

The three walked out of the room all looking very happy "we did it!" Liz exclaimed hugging Soul, then kissing him while Patty did the same with Kid.

"Was there really any doubt?" Soul chuckled after he and Liz broke their kiss.

"No, I guess not, we're pretty much awesome" Liz chuckled, then patted him playfully on the butt, pushing him towards the door "now go and make momma proud" she smiled.

Soul nodded with is own smile and walked into the room, said something, and the judges all looked at him with surprise but eventually, and reluctantly, nodded over at the two alchemists at the back. Crona and the others only understood what had surprised the judges when the floor moved to the center and two of the giant golems from before slid out of the ground.

"What the heck is he doing?" Maka exclaimed as the golems lumbered towards Soul, making the ground quake with every giant step.

Soul clapped his hands down on the ground and the floor slid up over his arms and changed into some very dangerous looking scythe blades just as the first golem brought its arm up and slammed it down, and to everyone's shock Soul sliced up and severed the rock like it was nothing. The floor slid up his leg and he jumped up while the stone formed another blade over his leg, then he kicked to the side, severing the giant's head at the neck, the used it as a push-point to launch himself over to the next one, where he passed by it seemingly harmlessly. A second later a thin line passed through the golem's stomach and it fell to the ground, splitting in two and crumbling in a mess of stones. Soul looked over at the judges table where the judges all nodded and clapped, then Soul threw his fist in the air and yelled out with a smile.

Soul came out and raised his hand, where Black Star came over and high-fived him "oh yeah! State Alchemist baby!" he yelled with a laugh.

"Nice" Black Star grinned, then he motioned for Tsubaki to follow him "and now it's our turn, and it's gonna be a show stopper!" he yelled arrogantly as they walked into the room.

Crona and the others watched as Black Star pointed up at the judges and yelled something, and all of them smiled with eyebrows raised.

"W-what's he doing?" Crona asked as the judges got down onto the floor and walked towards the center of the room.

Maka looked at them and then groaned in realization "oh god, that idiot is going to try and fight all of them!"

As if one cue the silver-haired alchemist slapped a hand on the ground and thin pillars rose out of the ground and they all took on the form of dozens of samurai swords and he grabbed the one right next to him and took on a stance. Tsubaki slapped her hands on the ground and the floor slid into her hands, and it turned into a short dagger which she tossed over to Black Star who caught it and immediately ran towards the others.

While Black Star was busy slashing at the samurai and Armstrong moved to go after him, Roy turned towards Tsubaki and snapped his fingers, making a fireball which he then shot at her, but she dodged to the side, sliding her hands over the floor and making two throwing stars. Tsubaki quickly got back to her feet and threw one of the stars at Roy, and the other at Armstrong who had his back turned. Without even turned Armstrong brought his fist back and the star broke in an explosion of dust, then he threw a punch down at Black Star who had to jump back to dodge it.

Black Star apparently had had enough of this and he called over to Tsubaki as the knife in his hand changed into a black ball with a burning fuse coming out the top. He threw down the bomb, and Crona noticed with a frown how the electricity stayed over his hand, and it exploded in a blast of thick smoke, swallowing him and the samurai. Tsubaki ran past Roy into the smoke just as something was violently blasted out of it and into one of the walls, and the group saw that it was the samurai. Crona saw a large amount of electricity arc inside the smoke and then a storm of throwing knives and stars flew out, and Roy and Alex were barely able to dodge them.

Roy finally got a shot and he threw a fireball into the smoke which blasted most of the smoke away. When the last of the smoke cleared Crona saw Black Star and Tsubaki standing ready with another pair of knives in their hands, but something seemed off about them, one thing was that they were standing perfectly still. Roy was about to snap his fingers again, but then something slid out of the floor behind him and Alex and before they could do anything Black Star and Tsubaki put the knives to their necks.

"How did they do that?" Crona asked looking between the Tsubaki and Black Star behind Roy and Alex to the one's standing still back where the smoke was.

"Black Star may be a bumbling idiot most of the time, but he can be just as stealthy as Tsubaki when he wants to be" Maka smiled as the partners backed off and Tsubaki went over and helped the samurai up "and I may have forgot to mention that Black Star can do the same thing as Stein" she said as the fakes turned grey and crumbled into dust.

The judges all smiled and then nodded at the partners and Tsubaki smiled back and hugged a laughing Black Star.

The two walked out of the room with happiness written over their faces just like the others "hah! Beat that! Who else could take on three state alchemists and kick their butts then the great Black Star?" he yelled then, he looked over at Tsubaki "and his loyal follower of course" Tsubaki smiled at him softly then leaned in and kissed him and on the cheek, and he laughed all the harder, even as his cheeks reddened.

"Well, looks like I'm up next" Maka cracked her knuckles and made sure that her gloves were on straight "wish me luck guys"

"Good luck" Crona and the others said in unison.

Maka's examination went by smoothly and much like Soul's, the only difference was that instead of two she went up against six of the giant golems, and she even asked that they were given weapons. Maka smashed through the golems as if they were glass statues, instead of giant lumbering monsters with canons and clubs. When she was finished the others were nodding, and her father was laughing heartily and clapping his hands loudly.

Maka walked out of the room with a big grin plastered on her face "done and done!" she clapped her hands, knocking some leftover dust.

"Well Crona, looks like it's your turn" Soul grinned as Crona looked to the side and started shaking.

"S-so I have to do what you guys did?" Crona looked inside the room nervously "I-I don't think I can do this, I-I don't know how to deal with people judging me-" Ragnarok burst out of Crona back and punched him in the head.

"Damn it Crona, what the hell have I said about being such a little bitch!" he yelled punching Crona once again in the head before sliding back into him.

Maka looked at Crona softly and put a hand on his shoulder "Crona, you'll do fine" Crona looked at her and she smiled back, and soon he nodded his head "there you go, now come on; you don't want to keep them waiting do you?"

Crona gave a shaky smile and shook his head "n-no, I-I don't want to do that."

"Good luck" the others called after him.

Crona walked into the examination room and noticed Professor Stein and someone else walk into the room out of a side passage at the back of the room. Crona looked closer at the other man and saw his black mustache and the dark eye-patch covering his left eye, and his eyes widened when he recognized who it was. Fuhrer Bradley was here at his examination, why was he here?

The judges all noticed Bradley and then snapped up and saluted "Fuhrer Bradley, we didn't know you were coming" Roy said with surprise "is there something we can help you with?"

Bradley looked over at Crona "this is the Gorgon child correct?" he asked and Roy nodded nervously "well then, everyone listen up, I have an order to give!" he raised his voice addressing everyone in the room.

"What do you need sir?" Roy asked.

"Your orders" he smiled at Crona in a way that made him tremble "are to kill Crona Gorgon."

"Wait what?" everyone in the room exclaimed at the same time.

* * *

_**HAHAHAHAHAH, cliffy.**_

_**Ok, I know that I made Tsubaki a little OOC, but I always saw her as a smart girl and so I decided to make her an alchemy nerd. So yeah, I hope you're enjoying the story so far, but I'm going to be going back to my other story for a little bit because I feel I've made my other viewers wait long enough, so yeah, sorry about that.**_


	5. You Pass

_**Yeah I know, I'm a total ass. But hey, what are ya gonna do right?**_

_** REVAMPED Chapter, enjoy.**_

* * *

"Wait what!" everyone exclaimed at once at their Fuhrer's order.

"You heard me" he replied calmly "kill the boy."

Crona took a step back "b-but why?"

The Fuhrer smiled softly and that somehow made the boy feel worse "this is how the story will go everyone" he snapped his fingers and a group of soldiers ran out of the passage he came from and surrounded the man "your mother may have been dead, but before she died she planted a kill order deep in your mind that would activate when you saw me" the soldiers all leveled their rifles "you proved too dangerous and had to be put down as a result, a pity such talent had to be wasted."

"But sir, why are you doing this?" Roy demanded "the kid's done nothing wrong and has proven that he's trustworthy, so why-"

The Fuhrer looked at the Colonel and smiled "orders are orders Colonel."

Roy seemed to struggle before he sighed, coming to a decision "…yes sir" he looked down "orders are orders" he and the other state alchemists got up.

Crona looked around at the men fearfully as they moved to surround him then locked onto Roy "but… but you said they'd accept me" he said sadly but Roy pulled his gloves back and flexed his fingers.

"I'm really sorry about this, but orders are-"

"Oh speak for yourself!" one of the soldiers yelled leveling his rifle with Crona's head "this freak deserves to die!" he pulled the trigger and Crona's head snapped to the side.

Maka and the others outside watched wide eyed and then yelled trying to get in, but the door was locked up tight.

Crona didn't have any time to react as Stein ran forward, his hands sliding on the ground behind him as electricity arced over them. All he did was change the style of the tiles under him but it was enough, the electricity stayed over his hands and he palmed Crona in the stomach which launched him back and he slammed into the reinforced bullet-proof glass with enough force to make a web of cracks.

Crona fell to the ground gasping for breath and looked up at the men in front him as most of them and their angry thoughts flooded into his head. _"Freak" "monster" "bastard" "he deserves to die" "fuckin' good that his mom's dead."_ Crona's eyes widened at that last thought.

Bradley raised his hand "open fire" he said calmly, bringing his hand down.

The soldiers all began shooting and Roy threw out fireball after fireball slamming Crona back into the glass, and Crona was still recovering from that last powerful attack from Stein so his concentration was down and he couldn't harden his blood. After an entire minute of non-stop fire, of bullets and actual fire, the men all stopped and Crona fell to the floor again, a bloody bullet filled and charred body.

Maka put her hand over her mouth and the others looked away "oh god, Crona" she croaked looking down at her broken friend.

Roy looked down at Crona sadly, then looked away. This wasn't right, he was just a kid, since when did they go around killing children. He felt like he was going to be sick, but then he heard the men around him gasp and so he turned back to see the cause. When he looked back he didn't understand what had freaked the men out at first, but then he saw an arc of purple electricity shoot over the boy's body.

The electricity began arcing more frequently as the boy's body started shaking then he gritted his teeth as his wound healed until he was able to pick himself up. The men and alchemists watched with awestruck horror as the child's body knitted itself back together right in front of there eyes "… you" he looked up at Roy hatefully as the man looked back with shock "you lied to me" he straightened up with a giggle and the rest of the men saw his blank eyes before he slowly began chuckling "… momma never liked liars" he stated with a dead voice, taking off his ruined cloak

The men all took a step back as all of the alchemy grenades around Crona's waist floated in the air around him, electricity arcing over them as they rose into the air. No one knew what was happening but then the glasses suddenly glowed and exploded as his shoulder and thigh puffed out and burst in geysers of black-blood. The two liquids mixed, shifted, expanded and finally took on two forms. The pitch-black creatures took on the form of two men in black robes (imagine that they look like two men in solid black Assassins Creed robes) with their hoods up and both had solid-white masks with two black eyeholes over their faces and while everyone else in the room was stunned dead the Fuhrer raised an amused eyebrow.

Crona stared at the soldiers in front of him and chuckled as the two creatures he made began snickering along with him "… you… you told me that they'd accept me" he laughed harder "you said that I could join you… but you _lied_ to me" he twitched as the blades in his knees and elbows slid out "you _lied_ _to_ _me_!" he laughed insanely almost doubling over. He then straightened up and they all saw the predatory look in his eyes and Roy shivered, it was almost exactly like his mothers "you know something Mister Mustang I think you need to be punished for that" he grinned as two large black blades formed out of the palms of his hands (you all know what Ragnarok looks like, now just imagine there being two of him).

"Yeah right!" the guard from before yelled and he fired his rifle, but then blades erupted out of the two creature's hands and they lunged forwards, their sharp blade-like fingers flashing in a blur, sending out small sparks as they cut the bullets to pieces right out of the air.

The man was stunned for a second and that was all Crona needed to run forward and punch him right in the face, smashing his nose as the others threw down their guns and pulled out swords and knives. The men all slashed and stabbed down while Alex threw in a punch all at the same time, but then Crona did something that shocked everyone ~he blocked all of them. He held out his elbows and blocked two blades and held his swords in a way that blocked four more and he held up his knee which blocked Alex's fist, and his two creatures also held onto two other blades, snickering at the owners. Crona smiled at the soldiers as two large red lipped mouths opened up on the blades and they screamed simultaneously, blasting the men all away in a cloud of purple, but somehow leaving the creatures unharmed.

Crona laughed looking at the men as they struggled to recover from the scream "man this is fun isn't it?" he asked with a laugh as the men picked themselves up and his two creations snickered along with him, holding one hand over the bottom of their faces like a pair of children. The broken boy looked over the men before him and a tremor went through him as he caught sight of Roy "hey Mister Mustang come on, orders are orders right?" Crona asked with a tint of anger "I'm dangerous right? I need to be put down right?" he chuckled insanely "you need to kill me right!" he pointed a hand over at the Colonel "bloody lance!" a large sharp lance shot out and the man was barely able to dodge it "oh man, I just hate, _hate_, _**hate**_ People like you! People who lie, people who say that they'll be your friend but then lie about it!" he lunged forward but was blocked by Alex and the Samurai.

The samurai slashed at him and Alex through a punch but Crona blocked it and the blades screamed again, sending them back a few feet. Crona ran forward as one of his blades disappeared and he grabbed onto the Samurai then threw him hard into the ceiling where he bounced off and slammed into the ground and the two creatures got in Alex's way as he tried charging forward, stopping his charge like he was a weak feather before they slammed him onto the ground.

"People like you, people who lie, you all deserve to be punished" he laughed as the last of the men got up and picked up their guns "aww, you all wanna hurt me too don't you?" he asked looking around as the last sword slid back into his hand. He actually had a hurt expression on his face for a moment, but the next second it changed into a big smile "well then, I guess I'll need to punish you too won't I?"

The other men all leveled their guns at Crona as he began shaking again, his head twitched around like he had a livewire touching him as electricity arcing over his neck and then he laughed before he took a deep breath. All of the men stared with confusion and disgust as what looked like a second scaly black mouth full of sharp teeth slide out of Crona's and open up.

Roy's eyes narrowed "what the-" Crona threw his head back and screamed, but this one was a much higher pitch then Ragnarok could ever reach.

All of the men struggled to keep their footing as the scream somehow rocked the entire building and most of the men dropped their weapons and clutched their ears screaming in pain. The last of the men who kept their grip on their weapons painfully aimed at the boy and Roy struggled but he was able to finally get his fingers together so he snapped and formed a fireball, but then Crona's scream shot up an octave blowing the flame away with a gust of wind.

The glass at the back of the room exploded and Maka and the others ducked and clutched their ears as the scream shot out into the building, shattering every glass, or glass-like object, inside and the men in the rooms all cried out as their guns exploded in their hands. The blood over Crona's elbows and knees floated out into the air and then shot out into the room around him, surrounding all of the men and then they suddenly froze in the air as needles shot out and halted right over every vital area on the men's bodies.

Crona stopped screaming and he paused for a second before he ran towards Fuhrer Bradley as another pair of swords slid out of his palms; his two creatures following close behind, and all three of them were laughing insanely as they closed in. Bradley unsheathed his blade in a flash but to everyone's surprise Crona blocked it with one sword and slashed with the other and his two creatures lunged from two different directions.

"So annoying!" Crona laughed as the four began dancing around each other in a blur of flashing metal and the others watched from their hostage situation with disbelief. No one was able to keep up with Bradley; or at least no one had ever been able to keep up with the man's speed until now "Hey Mister Bradley? Why did you do this?" the boy asked suddenly

"Whatever do you mean?" Bradley replied, his voice unwavering and calm under the three-way assault.

"I mean that I was going to help, I really was" he had that innocent child-like look on his face again, the one filled with the betrayed gleam "but then you try to kill me, I don't get it" he paused as the sword passed by his face nearly slicing his nose and then he broke out in a fit of laughter again "I just. _Don't_. _**Get**_ _**it**_!" he slashed at him with each word "why-_why_-_**why**_-_**why**_!"

Without even giving him a chance to answer Crona threw up his knee but Bradley dodged it easily and slashed at the boy from the side, but he blocked it with one of the swords and then held out the blade jutting from his elbow at the Fuhrer's neck as the man's arm and sword blurred with a quick motion of his sword while the boy's creatures jabbed their hands in a stabbing motion over his chest and sides just a twitch from impaling him right here. The only thing that had stopped him and his creatures from turning him into Swiss was the point of Bradley's sword-point jutting right over Crona's heart.

He looked at the man in front of him, eye's narrow and hateful, and he wanted nothing more then to kill him and make him pay… but then he caught a thought from the man _"impressively executed child, well done"_ he heard and the Fuhrer smiled at him warmly _"I think that you're going to fit in well here"_ Crona slowly and cautiously calmed himself down and then backed away as his blades, swords and all, slid back into him and his blood fell to the floor and his two creatures stood down. The guards all moved quickly and surrounded Crona and his creations, swords, pikes, guns and knives at the ready, but then Bradley held up his hand holding them back.

"Alright everyone, you can stand down now" all of the men looked at him with confusion as he chuckled "I believe he's proven himself quite enough."

"… Sir?" Roy asked with an eyebrow raised as he rubbed his neck where one of the needles had pointed at.

"You heard me" he chuckled heartily "stand down, the boy isn't willing to hurt us unless reasonably provoked, I believe he's shown that" the Fuhrer's smile widened "so I see no other reason to continue the violence."

Roy frowned at him but gladly followed the order "sir… is there a reason you gave that order?"

Bradley chuckled again and slid his sword back into his scabbard right as Crona felt his cheek begin stinging. It was the moment after that that he noticed that in the man's other hand was a dagger with a black splotch on it. He then heard what sounded like metal hitting the floor and he turned to see his two creatures looking down at their hands, their heads cocked in confusion as they stared at their broken fingers which were now lying on the floor. Crona then looked back at Bradley and stared, the shock evident on his face; when had the Fuhrer pulled out a knife?

"I simply needed to see his abilities for my self, and there's no better way to judge a person's skill then when they believe their life depends on it" he looked back at the soldier who had called Crona a freak then smiled again, only there was something sinister in it "you there soldier, I'd like a word with you" he picked the man up by the back of his collar and led him to the hall he had come from "and the rest of you, I don't want to hear anything about any violence or foul words towards the boy, or you will have to report to me are we understood?" the men were all silent as they tried to understand this "men?" he raised an eyebrow and they all twitched in unison, fear taking hold of them.

"_Understood_!" they shouted as one.

"Good" Bradley gave the man in front of him a shove through the door.

Crona looked at the Fuhrer, not understanding what had just happened here as the man walked away, but then when Roy came over the boy looked down remorsefully "I… I'm sorry" he shook his head "I am so, _so_ sorry" he said sadly "I-I-I shouldn't have said, o-or done any of that-"

Roy shook his head "it's alright kid, you didn't do anything wrong" he patted him on the back, then looked around at the men, some staring in awe, but most glaring at the boy, and then Alex stood up to his full height with a scowl.

"What are all of you standing around for?" he boomed crossing his arms as the men flinched at the sound of his voice "get to work on fixing the damages, things like this are nothing new to us!" a number of them ~most of the ones who were awed by the boy's abilities~ left at once, but most of the glaring men's gazes stayed on Crona and the Major's scowl deepened "now! That's an order!" he boomed and they all flinched again and ran to do what he said. The giant watched them with disgust, but when he turned back to Crona he nodded with a soft smile "I'm impressed to say the least" he smiled right as his daughter and her friends recovered from the scream and ran into the room quickly.

"Crona! Are you alright?" Maka asked with concern looking him over "I-I saw you get shot, and the others attacked you, and then they-"

The boy couldn't help but smile at her concern "n-no it's alright Maka, I-I'm fine" he assured her, and she eventually breathed out in relief, then without even thinking she leaned forward and hugged him, surprising him.

"I was so worried" he couldn't help but frown down at her.

"… W-why?" she looked up at him with a frown of her own.

"Because you're my friend Crona, why else?" she asked and Crona blinked then smiled again.

"… Thank you" he smiled at her and she and the others smiled back.

And soon after fixing up a wall with some quick alchemy Stein walked over to the group and Crona began shaking in fear "oh don't worry, the fighting's all done now" the scientist chuckled at the boy's terrified expression and he patted his shoulder "but my, my, you are just full of surprises aren't you?" he looked over at the two creations that seemed to pop out of thin air next to him ~a new set of claws at the ready~ and the others all took a step back in surprise "I've never seen something like these two before" he smiled then "do you think I could borrow one…" his hand was inching towards a pocket of his lab coat which no doubt held a sharp tool.

Crona shook his head and smiled back at the two creatures "no, I-I'm, sorry, but I kind of need them" all of the adrenaline from before had finally left Crona's system and he felt very weak from all the blood he lost and he stumbled a little "they… t-they need to go back, and soon" the two of the creatures nodded and put a hand to Crona's back, then dissolved and slid into him, making him feel instantly better, if not a little hungry from using his abilities for so long.

Roy turned away from the kid's to look around the room and then he breathed out, shaking his head at the damage "damn, just… damn" he stated as the alchemists among them began repairing the windows and ripped up ground "you're definitely going to be a strong one" he chuckled then he looked back at the young group in front of him "alright then recruits, if no one else is going to randomly attack you I think that's it, come with me."

The Colonel led them through hallways, some filled with broken glass, others not as bad, but each one filled Crona with guilt as they passed. She didn't at first but Maka soon noticed the look on the boy's face whenever they passed a bit of destruction "it isn't your fault, you know that right?" he looked at her but the way he did showed her that he didn't believe her "_they_ attacked _you_ Crona, not the other way around, you can't be blamed for defending yourself."

"But I almost killed those men-"

"But you didn't, you held back in the end" Roy noted looking back at him "what they did back there was wrong, and after everything you've been put through of course you'd react that way, the Fuhrer should not have treated that the way he did" he sighed shaking his head "but what's done is done, and in the end nothing regrettable happened, so try to move on."

"Really dude, don't worry about it, you weren't the one being uncool in there" Soul grinned "and besides, if anyone gives you trouble we'll take care of 'em for you" he patted his shoulder.

Roy chuckled as he opened the door to his office "yeah, I don't think he's going to be having many problems here, because if the _Fuhrer_ told everyone to back off, then they're going to back off" he sat down behind his desk and pulled out eight papers and put them out on his desk and he looked at Kid and the sisters first "but for now, let not worry about what could happen later on" he pulled out eight silver-pocket watches and seven out of the eight teens smiled, one watch for each of them.

Maka noticed the sadness in Crona's eyes out of the corner of her eyes and she reached out and rubbed his back earning a twitch "just relax Crona, everything is going to be fine" she smiled softly "so try and be happy and let's get our watches."

He took a deep breath and then nodded "I… I-I'll try."

"Ok then, would you all like to continue or do you need some more hug time" Roy asked with an amused eyebrow raised "for each of you, we've studied the way you use your alchemy and have come up with names that we believe fit you" he held up one of the watches to Kid "up first, we have the Gun-Reap alchemist" Kid accepted the watch with a smile.

He looked at the symbol on the face of the watch and he shrugged "it may be asymmetric, but I can overlook it."

Roy rolled his eyes and turned to the sisters "then we've got his two loyal Twin-Shot Alchemists" the sisters took the watches then turned and giggled to each other as Roy turned to Soul "next up, we've got the Scythe-Heart alchemist" Soul took the watch and grinned.

"Cool" he chuckled spinning it around by the chain before tucking the watch into on of his pockets.

Then Roy turned to Black Star "and of course we have the oh so god like Star-Strike alchemist" he chuckled as Black Star took the watch and grinned a toothy smile "and his loyal Dark-Arm Alchemist" Tsubaki took the watch and smiled at it softly as Roy turned to Maka and the Colonel grinned "I always told the Major that you'd make a damn fine alchemist, and I was right" he handed the watch to Maka "welcome to the military Angel-Fist alchemist" and then he turned to Crona who was smiling at the others, he may have felt bad about what he had done, but he felt good seeing his friends happy "then there's you."

Crona twitched then grabbed his other arm and shifted on his feet as he turned to face the officer "yeah… then there's me."

Roy looked at him and eventually smiled holding out the watch "welcome to the military Black-Blood alchemist."

Crona frowned at him "B-Black-Blood?" he shifted around even more and looked really uncomfortable "d-doesn't that sound a little… I-I don't know… too _scary_?"

But before anyone could answer Ragnarok slid out of the boy's back and grabbed the watch "oh god damn it Crona, just take the stupid watch" he shoved it into Crona's hand "seriously, you get a badass sounding name and here you are trying to change it" he slid back into him "freakin hopeless."

The others couldn't help it as they snickered and eventually they all laughed, Roy included while Crona looked at them with confusion and then he pouted, though he did feel happy at the moment "alright… alright everyone, calm down" Roy took a few breaths and straightened up, and the others soon followed suit "… you have all proved today that you are some of the best alchemists in Amestris" he crossed his arms behind his back and looked at the eight teens in front of him "you all have great powers, and with that you must also accept a great responsibility" he snapped one of his fingers and a fireball formed "your abilities have the potential for great help, but also-" the fire flared, almost reaching the ceiling, and the teens narrowed their eyes at the glare and heat "-great harm, so now, you must all promise to never use these abilities to oppress others, you must promise to use your abilities to help the citizens of Amestris and assist the military whenever it calls for aid, do you understand?" he closed his hand putting out the flame, and the others straightened up.

"Yes sir" they all answered, though Crona's voice was shakier then everyone else's.

Roy nodded "well then" he smiled at the group "I'm happy to welcome all of you to the State Alchemists" he snapped off a salute, and the others followed suit "for now, you are dismissed" he put his hand back behind his back and the others relaxed "go ahead and go back home, I'm sure you all have something planned" he walked out the door and stopped right outside as it closed behind him. He couldn't help but smile all the wider when he heard the collective cheers and laughs come from inside _"oh god, youth, how I miss thee"_ he thought shaking his head with a chuckle as he walked away.

And inside the room the others were laughing and hugging each other, and to everyone's surprise Crona accepted and returned the hug Maka was giving him even as she jumped up and down "we did it! We're finally in!" she yelled happily.

"It's official, we're all state alchemists" Soul grinned with Liz wrapped around him "freakin cool man" he and Black Star high-fived before the blue haired boy went back over and hugged Tsubaki who was actually crying happy tears.

"Well guys, you all know what happens now" Maka gave Crona one last squeeze before letting go "party at my place!" the other's cheered.

…

About an hour later the group returned to Maka's business home where her father was waiting for them outside "ten hut!" he boomed and the others snapped off salutes and he laughed heartily "at ease" the young alchemists all relaxed and the man picked Maka up in a powerful bear-hug "hahahahah I knew you would make it! I simply knew it! The Armstrong Line never disappoints!"

Maka giggled until her father finally put her down "thanks papa."

Her father stood up to his full height and looked down at the group in front of him with approval, then back at Maka and smiled "I have quite a surprise for you Maka, something I'm sure you're going to appreciate very much" Maka looked at him with a frown but then smiled when the door opened and the group was met by a loud "Congrats!" from inside.

They walked inside and saw dozens of people, all of which Crona didn't know, but the others recognized as close friends from school. Make looked around with a smile at all her friends, but then a lone woman with the same ashy-hair ~hanging loose down her shoulders ~as Maka stepped out of the crowd and smiled as the girl's eyes widened "MAMA!" Maka nearly tackled the woman in a hug and she laughed as Alex came over and put a hand on her shoulder as Maka buried her face in her mother's dress "but I thought you were up in the north? Why- how are you here?"

Kami Armstrong laughed at her daughter and gave her a squeeze "it's been slow up there lately, nothing new has come up with the terrorists so I asked if I could have a short leave" she smiled down at Maka proudly "and I couldn't miss my own daughter's congratulation party now could I?"

Maka just shook her head and smiled more "I just can't believe that you're here."

"Well believe it" Kami then noticed Crona as Maka's other friends went into the crowd to converse and share in the congrats. Kami frowned "who's this?"

"Oh, well Mom, I'd like you to meet Crona Gorgon, a friend I made two days ago" Maka smiled at Crona who then blushed and managed a smile himself. People were staring at him again, he didn't like it "he's really nice, and tough too."

"H-hello there" Crona said quietly.

Kami leaned in and Crona almost stumbled back as she looked him over, humming to herself as she thought about something. She remained like this for a while before she straightened up nodding to herself "he seems like a nice boy" she nodded more, seeming to come to a decision "you chose a good one Maka, he seems like he'll make a fine husband" all the others in the room all scoffed and a lot of them did what most people would do and made an "oooooooohhhhh!" sound.

"S-shut up!" Maka yelled, both her face and Crona's burning red as the teens around them snickered "why does everyone keep thinking we're a couple? We only just met!" the others around her, her mother and father included, all burst out laughing, and soon she couldn't help herself from joining in, followed by Crona.

"I'm sorry for saying that, I just love messing with my daughter" she patted Crona's back "though honestly, I think that you're going to be a very interesting person Crona" Kami chuckled putting a hand on the boy's shoulder "though I hope you'll do well to take care of my daughter."

Crona's blush deepened "uhh, y-yes ma'am" the woman patted him then went over to a cart and pulled it towards the center of the room.

"Okay everybody, what do you say we start this party off right?" she pulled the top of the cart off to reveal an incredibly large cake "anyone up for chocolate-strawberry ice-cream cake?" she raised her voice and everyone in the room cheered "ok, ok, hang on, the special guests get the first pieces" she cut up eight large slices and gave the plates to the teens "ok boys and girls, dig in!" she put a hand on the bottom of the cart and electricity arced over it and the cake split into a hundred squares then the cart slid out in a hundred different directions and held it out in front of every guest.

Maka laughed at her mom as the cart went back to normal "always showing off" the others all laughed before digging into their cakes.

Crona looked around the group in around him and smiled when his gaze fell on Maka _"this is nice"_ he thought happily as he picked up part of his cake _"I think I'm going to like it here"_ he took the cake in his mouth and loved the taste _"I think I'm really, really, going to like living here."_

If only he knew how much harder his life was going to get once his alchemist duties began. Maybe then he wouldn't feel so chipper about things. But perhaps fate wanted him to have a moment of happiness before his life took its dark turn.


	6. Crona's Darkside

_** REVAMPED Chapter, enjoy.**_

* * *

_**Two Weeks Later**_

The large, strange looking spider crawled through the vent without a sound until it came to a grate blocking its path. The one large eye melded into its back looked at the grate and the pupil sharpened as the spider hissed in anger before it crawled up onto the grate and a mouth on its underside opened up. It clicked and hissed as it spit out a green liquid onto the metal and upon contact the acid slowly corroded the metal away and the incredibly capable Chimera crawled through the hole it made into the large room.

_"Master, inside now"_ it hissed within its simple mind _"you see? You see?"_

Crona was sitting outside the building sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed _"yes, I can see, good job"_ he smiled to himself when he felt his Chimera's joy.

The spider looked up happily imagining its master's smile _"oooh, master happy? I do good?"_

_"Yes, you did very good, but please pay attention; I need to see what's happening"_ Crona thought urgently.

_"Yes master"_ the Chimera's eye rotated back to the center of the room so that the boy could see what was happening.

There were three men sitting around a table filled with dozens of bags of some white powdery substance and a lot of cash and also there was about a dozen armed guards in the same room "well boys, it looks like the business is booming right now" one of the men sitting at the table chuckled, flicking through a stack of bills.

"Yeah, it's real surprisin' how all these fancy, proper suit types love our lowly improper drugs" another laughed mockingly "I guess gettin' paid hundreds for just sitting on their asses behind a desk all day can get pretty boring."

Crona cut the mental link from his side and sent the order for his Chimera to exit as he stood up "ok Maka, Central was right, the dealers are inside" he nodded over at the girl who was staring at him curiously, and he started feeling uncomfortable "w-what is it?" he asked as his Chimera crawled out of a small hole in the wall and quickly hopped up onto Crona's shoulder as the boy shifted around on his feet.

"Oh it's nothing, I was just wondering how you use that little Chimera of yours" she tapped his head playfully and Crona blushed "huh, you know, what do you even call this little guy?" she looked at the Chimera on his shoulder curiously but when she touched it the little spider pressed itself into her hand like a puppy almost.

"Oh, well um, I… I-I call this one a… Spyder" Crona looked down sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head as Maka raised an eyebrow "Spyder with a Y, not an I" he felt so stupid while Maka's looked changed to amused and she snickered.

"Well aren't you the clever one" she chuckled petting the little Chimera before backing up and cracking her knuckles "alright then Black-Blood, you ready to go?" she asked and Crona nodded before twitching as his blades came out and he formed a sword in his right hand.

"Ready" he always seemed to take on such a calm demeanor when they did this.

The two alchemists walked towards the doors of the building and Maka smiled "ladies first" she mumbled as she brought her fist back and then punched the door right off its hinges, throwing it inside and hitting two guards in the process smashing them into a wall.

Maka ran in and Crona walked in behind her and his Spyder jumped off his shoulder onto one of the guard's faces, spitting acid right into his face as Crona pulled out an alchemy grenade with a simple but distinct picture of a cactus and a spider on the glass. Electricity arced over the grenade and Crona threw it into the air directly above him where it glowed and exploded and a second later something shot out of the glowing mass and hit the roof. When the glow faded away there was another large spider ~much like the acid spitting Chimera~ only this one was covered with spikes that twitched and shook with little click as it hung from the long web. Crona snapped his finger and the Spiker began launching its barbed spikes out like an automatic rifle, hitting some of the guards and pinning them to the floor and walls but doing much worse to the rest.

Crona easily side stepped one guard who was lugging a very large mace and elbowed him in the chest with his left arm, stabbing him right through his heart with the blade, and then he blocked another man's sword with his own. Crona smiled at the man as a mouth opened up on his blade and it screamed, vibrating the sword it sliced right through the guard's blade, cutting clean through the top half of his head in the process.

Soon all of the guards were either dead ~by Crona's hand~ or seriously wounded, and then there was only the dealers left, only two of them standing though because one was on the ground crying in pain from the spike lodged in his side "well… that was easy" Maka stated, though she looked at the dead bodies uncomfortably.

"Do you want to take care of these ones or should I?" Crona asked making five drops of blood float over his sharp finger tips.

Maka looked at the boy with worry "we need them alive Crona, remember?"

In the three weeks that had passed since Crona became a state alchemist and was partnered up with Maka the girl had come to see Crona whenever he fought, more specifically she'd come to see how cruel and sadistic he was when he did it. She had watched how he changed from a sweet timid boy into a cold merciless killer, and it scared her, not that he went through this change so easily, but by what he must have been put through to make him like this.

"Oh don't worry, I won't kill them" Crona smiled darkly "bloody needles" he curled his fingers into a fist and needles shot out of the drops, hitting the dealers in the knees and stomachs, earning cries of pain from the men as they fell to the floor "see? Not dead" he chuckled walking over to them as his sword slid back into him.

Crona grabbed both of the men by the hair and they yelled in pain as he began dragging them out of the building leaving Maka to watch him sadly. She didn't like seeing him like this, especially because of how he got afterward, he was barely able to look at her and always acted like she hated him and wanted nothing to do with him, but nothing could be further from the truth. She was worried, and she wasn't the only one, Soul, Tsubaki, and all her other friends felt the exact same way whenever they were all working together.

After Crona called for a pickup and he gave the dealers over to the MPs he had changed back to his normal self and kept his distance from Maka, much to the girl's sadness. After submitting their report they caught a cab which took them over to Crona and Maka's new home. Maka's family talked about it a few days after the party and they had decided that it would be good for the two partners to live together, and though her mother made a suggestive comment telling Crona to behave himself ~earning embarrassment from Maka and confusion from Crona~ no one was worried because he was the picture of a gentlemen.

When the two of them arrived at the house and opened up the door the two of them were met by the couple dozen Chimera that Crona had made during the three weeks he'd been in Central, and all of them immediately backed off when they felt how uncomfortable he was. The various creatures looked at their creator as he moved over to the couch and they brushed up against Maka and looked up at her, making many curious and concerned hisses and clicks. She crouched down and ran her hand over some of the Chimera but then she went over to the kitchen, it was her turn to cook today.

…

Eventually after the two of them ate a quiet lunch at the couch Maka shot a glance over at Crona and decided that it was time to try and talk "sooo… I hear that the others have been doing well lately" she began and Crona nodded, though he was looking to the side "they've already earned some free time from their superiors… so do you want to go hang out with them?" Crona shook his head and remained silent "… Crona" she slowly put a hand on his shoulder and he tensed then shied away "Crona listen to me" she gently grabbed his shoulder and turned him so they were face to face, but Crona's eyes shifted down "you haven't done anything wrong, I want you to understand that."

Crona stayed silent a little longer "… but… but I did all of those things-"

"To dirt-bags, cheaters, and murderers who deserve it" Maka cut him off shaking her head "you're a good person Crona, please believe that" she squeezed his arm reassuringly "and I just hate seeing you like this."

Crona looked at her then and saw her sad expression and slumped "I… I-I'm sorry Maka, I-I didn't mean to make you sad-" Maka shook her head then reached up and cupped his cheek gently, smiling at him.

"No, don't be sorry, you didn't do anything wrong" she said again, then she leaned forward and hugged him "you've never done anything wrong for as long as I've known you, and I want you to know that I will never think less of you for anything you do" he eventually accepted her hug and returned it with a small smile.

"Thank you Maka" he tightened their hug, not wanting it to end and she rubbed his back comfortingly "thank you so, so much-"

"Uhh… I hope I'm not interrupting anything" someone said and the two teens tensed up and turned to see Lieutenant Hawkeye standing in the doorway of his living room with a folder under her arm.

Crona and Maka broke their hug and quickly scooted to opposite sides of the couch "L-Lieutenant Hawkeye, I-I didn't hear you come in, why are you here?" Crona stuttered fiddling with his hands, his face burning.

"Well the door was unlocked and I had an assignment I needed to deliver to you so I walked in" she rubbed the back of her head feeling a little uncomfortable that she walked in on this personal moment "I only just got here though so I didn't see much" she put the folder down on the table in front of the couch

Maka coughed and straightened up, regaining her composure "so Lieutenant, what's the assignment?"

Risa shrugged "I honestly don't know, the Colonel said that it was for your eyes only."

Maka frowned "why us?"

"He only said that it wasn't my place to look into it, and something having to do family feuds" she shook her head "but it doesn't matter, I've done my duty and now I'll get out of your hair to let you learn yours" she turned and walked towards the exit but right as she touched it she stopped. She turned to face them and she smirked at the two of them "and you know… two really do make a nice couple" she smiled as the two teens blushed deep red "just saying" she chuckled and walked out.

Maka coughed and looked back at Crona who was still fiddling with his hands uncomfortably "sooo… that just happened" she chuckled nervously as Crona's eyes shifted around "oh well, at least I was finally able to calm you down a bit after a mission, so there's that."

Crona smiled and quietly laughed, nodded and then he looked down at the folder; it was only for him and Maka to see because of family? He felt a jolt of anxiety but forced himself to pick up the folder "so I wonder what it is we have to do-" right after opening the folder he froze. He found himself looking down at a picture of a woman with long black hair pulled back into a bun and who had distinctly strange eyes that looks like they had perfect spider webs in them.

Maka noticed how Crona began shaking and her look changed from happy to concerned "what is it?" she leaned down over his shoulder and she felt a tremor go through her as her eyes widened "is that… is that Arachne?" this woman in the picture was the leader of the terrorist group, Arachnophobia, which her mother was sent to the North to investigate. Why are they getting an assignment about her in Central? She finally noticed how bad Crona was shaking and frowned not understanding his fear "Crona… Crona do you know something about her?"

He nodded a shaky nod "she… s-s-she's my aunt" Maka's eyes widened.

"But… but her name isn't-"

"She changed it" Crona gripped his other arm tightly "s-she changed it because she didn't need anyone paying attention to her, a-at least that's what she told me the first time I met her" his grip was so hard that his nails broke through his skin and the black blood leaked down his arm. Maka automatically pulled out a handkerchief eyeing him with concern.

Maka still didn't understand why he was so scared though "did… did something happen to you because of her?" she asked wiping up the blood "did she do something to you?"

Crona nodded again "a-a while back… my mother once left me home when she had to go get supplies" he remembered back to that day when he first met his aunt "a-and then out of nowhere these people began attacking the castle a little while after she left" when Maka put her hand on his back she could feel how much he was shaking "they killed everything, every last one of my mother's Chimera,… b-but when they reached me" he shook his head "s-she came right up to me and told me who she was and that she wanted to take me away" he chuckled a little, but it was shaky and scared "s-she was going to do it to get back at momma, s-she told me she was going to publicly kill me a-and expose my mother to the people of the South" Maka's eyes widened again.

"Crona… how old were you when this happened?" she asked and Crona chuckled sadly again.

"I was six" he said shocking her as he shook his head "a-and she was really going to do it too, I-I knew that when her people dragged me across the floor" terrified tears pricked his wide eyes as he remembered that day "I-I was so sure, I-I was so sure that I was going to die that day… b-but then my mother came back" his hand tightened around his arm again, but Maka put her own over it and Crona calmed a fraction and his grip lessened "s-she was so… so _angry_… s-she tore those men apart right in front of me in ways that I would have never thought possible, a-and then she took me back, s-she chased Arachne off and took me back."

"And all of this happened when you were six?" Crona nodded "oh god Crona" she leaned in and hugged him "all of that happening when you were a kid" she shook her head as the boy sniffled "what kind of person would do this to a little kid? And she was family too" he couldn't help but bitterly laugh at that.

"The Gorgons have never been a happy family" he shook his head sadly "a-all we're about is killing those stronger in the family to get better control, a-and controlling the weaker ones… weak ones like me."

"Crona, don't say that about yourself" Maka backed up and looked at him seriously "you aren't weak, if anything, you're stronger then anyone out there."

Despite his fear from that memory Crona frowned "h-how do you see that?"

Maka rubbed his shoulder and smiled at him "Crona you went through hell, you went through hell and came out innocent; that says a lot about who you are."

"Yeah! So how about you stop whining like a little baby!" Ragnarok burst out of Crona's back and punched him in the head surprising Maka, she'd almost forgotten about Ragnarok, he hadn't come out or said anything once today until now "seriously, I've been sitting in here having to listen to your bitching for-freaking-ever" he gave Crona a withering look "'oh boohoo, my childhood sucks, my family wants to kill each other, oh please pity me'."

Maka glared up at the Chimera "shut up Ragnarok, you've got no idea what he's gone through."

"Pfft, I still know more about this little dumbass then you ever will" he gave Maka a side long glance and snickered, then he smiled mischievously "like how he thinks about you when he's all alone-"

"Ragnarok!" Crona snapped looking up at the Chimera angrily, forgetting about his past fear for a moment "s-shut up!" Maka's cheeks reddened along with Crona's. that Chimera really needed to learn to keep his mouth shut.

Ragnarok snickered more "hey, I'm just saying is all" he slid back into the boy who was looking to the side with embarrassment.

Maka looked over at him and twirled one of her pigtails around her finger "sooo… do you actually think about me-"

"Uh, I wonder what this assignment is?!" he asked quickly, opening the folder again, leaving Maka to look at him and wonder.

He read through the papers and Maka cocked her head and leaned in "what's it say?"

Crona put the folder down and frowned at it "it says that… that we're supposed to investigate a lead about a sect of Arachnophobia" he looked over at Maka "that's inside Central."

Maka blanched "what? But that- but that's impossible! They couldn't have gotten inside Central!"

Crona shook his head "I don't know if they're in or not, and from what this says the Command doesn't either and that's what we're here for, t-to check it out" he got up walked towards the exit "come on, we need to check on this lead."

Maka got up and quickly followed "I can't believe it" she shook her head as she speed walked behind Crona "all this time I've always thought that Central was impenetrable."

"It still might be" Crona reminded her, but somehow he knew that wasn't true.

…

The partners moved through the streets of Central quickly until they made it to the building their mysterious contact was said to be. The two walked in cautiously but then Maka Calmed when she saw a tan skinned man with a headband in a green tank-top with some rather unique tattoos on his arms standing next to a tall, curvy woman with pink hair under a black mousy hat sitting down in one of three chairs around a table, wrapped in a blanket. When Crona saw the woman he winced as his chest suddenly began burning and he didn't understand why. That hadn't happened before.

"Maka good, you're here" the man walked over to her and smiled, then turned to Crona and held out his hand "Sid Barett, Military special forces and recon" Crona shook his hand then looked over at the woman and he saw signs that she'd been crying.

"Is she alright?" he asked with concern ignoring the pain in his chest.

Sid looked back at her and sighed, looking down sadly "no, no she isn't" he walked over to the woman and kneeled down "hey, these people are here to help okay? Do you think you can explain what happened to you?"

The woman nodded as Crona and Maka sat down across from her and she took a shaky breath "hello there, my name is Mizune" she began "a-and I was a prisoner at one of Arachnophobia's bases here" she took another shaky breath "m-more specifically I was a slave" her eyes turned bitter and hateful "a sex slave."

Maka's hand covered her mouth, feeling bile rising "oh god."

"I was kidnapped from my home, just like all the others they had there" she pulled the blanket around her tighter "and they… they did things… horrible things to all of us, b-but some of the people they took had it worse then the rest of us" she was shaking as she laughed sadly "I suppose you could say I was one of the lucky ones being forced to do what I did."

"What do you mean?" Crona asked gently.

"This woman, the men called her Arachne" Crona and Maka tensed "she would come around every now and then her men would gather up a bunch of us and she would… I-I don't know how but she turned dozens of people into Chimera all at once."

Maka looked at Mizune with disbelief "what? How is that possible?"

"She had some kind of stone with her" Crona was the only one who tensed "it was a tiny red stone inside a ring she had and it would flash red whenever she used it" Mizune looked sick then "but it wouldn't always work, s-sometimes the people would… sometimes they would die, they'd pop, random parts of them would just puff up and explode" she shut her eyes tight "there was so much blood… it was disgusting" then she began shaking "but they weren't the only ones affected by that stone."

"What do you mean?" Crona asked right before the burning in his chest flared as pink electricity arced over Mizune's body.

There was a poof of pink smoke and when it cleared Mizune was gone. Maka and Crona looked around, but then the boy noticed something move underneath the blankets and five small forms popped out from under it "what the…" Maka and Crona looked closer and saw that there were five mice poking out of the blanket.

The mice split up into two groups, one group of two and one of three and electricity arced over them before there was another poof of smoke. The teens waved the smoke away, coughing a bit "yeah, it's freaky I know" someone said in a young voice, and when the smoke cleared there were two people standing next to the chair, a child and a teenager, both wearing the same clothes and hat as Mizune "it's really freaky" the child said.

The burning in Crona's chest subsided and he looked between the girls "how… how did you-"

"I said that others were affected by the stone" the teenager said crossing her arms and looking down sadly.

"I was one of the others" the child looked down as well then the two girls held hands and electricity arced over them again.

There was another poof "it happened after one of Arachne's men… broke me in" Mizune spat bitterly as she sat back down "she came and turned all of these people into Chimera, and I was in a nearby room" she shook her head "some of the leftover energy shot through the walls hit me and I guess there was a mouse in the same room because when some of that red lighting arced over me and the burning stopped I was split into five mice" she pulled the blanket around tightly "and now I'm able to split up into different forms" she raised her hand up and held out her fingers "I can split up into five separate tiny little mice" she curled her thumb "four of me can turn into a young adult" she curled her pinky "three makes me a teenager" she curled her ring finger "two of me makes a kid" she curled her middle finger "and when I'm all together I'm normal… though I suppose normal isn't the right word" she chuckled sadly.

Crona's hands curled into fists under the table "and they would do this to anyone?"

"Men, women… even children" Mizune shook her head "it didn't matter to them who they hurt or how bad… just like me" she choked back a sob and pulled her knees to her chest "I-I was about to give up before your friend showed up and saved me" she shook her head and tears slid out of her eyes "but they killed them… Arachnophobia killed all of those people so they couldn't talk, t-there was only three of us left before your friends broke in and stopped them" she closed her eyes and cried "I was so scared."

Crona's knuckles were white when Mizune finished "Ragnarok… get out here" he ordered and the Chimera slid out of the boy's back and Mizune's eyes widened in fear "don't worry, he's not going to hurt you" Crona assured her as Ragnarok knelt down and sniffed her.

"W-what's it doing?"

"Getting the scent of those men off you" Crona explained before Ragnarok nodded over to him "don't worry, we'll make them pay for what they did" he got up but then Mizune grabbed his arm.

"Wait, I-I have a friend who was taken, h-her name is Blair" she said quickly, her eye pleading "we were split up but I'm sure she's still alive" she reached through her clothes beneath the blanket and came out with a small little cat plushie, no bigger than Crona's fist "s-she always kept this with her, but she gave it to me for luck, so please, if you can, please find her" she looked dangerously close to crying.

Crona nodded and reached out for the plushie "we'll find her" he held the toy up for Ragnarok who again nodded when he got the scent "I promise we'll find your friend."

"Thank you" she looked up at Crona with some form of peace in her eyes "thank you, thank you, thank you so much" she hugged herself and began crying again.

Crona looked from Mizune over to Maka and motioned for her to follow "come on, let's go find these men."

Maka saw the look in his eyes and fought back a shudder "y-yeah, let's go."

Sid looked at the two of them as they followed Ragnarok towards the door "wait a second, are you going to need any help?"

"No, we'll be fine" Crona said without even turning.

"But wait a second! How are you supposed to do it all alone-"

Crona turned and looked at Sid with one eye "I said we'll be fine."

Crona's dark tone and the look in his eye shut Sid up and the man nodded "yes sir, of course" Crona and Maka, who was looking at the boy with worry turned and left the building and then Sid breathed out "what the hell is up with that kid?" he mumbled under his breath, leaning back on the wall to steady his trembling knees "I've never seen someone look so angry before."

…

Ragnarok led the two partners through the city for what felt like hours as they checked out diners and other building these men had stopped at and throughout that entire time Crona's hate and anger from seeing what had happened to that woman never left, if anything it just got worse. That woman was just like him, he saw that same broken look in that woman's eyes that looked back at him whenever he looked in a mirror. No one should have to be put through any variation of the pain filled hell he had to go through, especially not an innocent woman, and yet none of what that woman said about what happened to her surprised the boy. He'd seen all of it before; he'd seen the full extent of human cruelty on its own kind behind the big door after all, and the nightmares always reminded him, they reminded him every night, after restless night.

It had already gotten dark by the time the large Chimera led the two of them through the streets until they stopped in an alley where they got a good look at a large warehouse with armed men on the roof and covering all the entrances.

"You're sure this is the place?" Crona asked, though he didn't really have to, you don't keep such a large building this heavily guarded unless something was happening inside.

"Of course I'm sure dumbass, the scent stops here" the Chimera then scowled "plus the place reeks of sex" the scowl deepened and he growled "and death."

"Then let's not waste any more time then" Crona held his hand out "Bloody Bonder" Ragnarok nodded and liquefied.

Maka crossed her arms as the Chimera covered Crona's arm and strangely began creeping over his shoulder and then over his chest. He seemed to be able to do almost anything with Ragnarok "so, what's the plan for this place? Are we going in stealthy or-"

"No, you're not coming in" Crona said as Ragnarok slid over his entire body and the creature slowly expanded and hardened over him, turning into some kind of large bulky armor.

"What are you talking about?" Maka frowned at him as the armor hardened over his hands and his fingers turned into claws "you can't be serious. You can't go in there all on your-"

"_I'm_ _serious_" his voice seemed to deepened as the last of the armor hardened over his head and then he looked down at her, seeing as he was at least two feet bigger then she was and was built like her father. He stared down with two blank white eyes and he had a white zigzag line on the bottom of his face _"I don't want you to see what I'm going to do in there_" he walked towards the warehouse and when Maka moved to follow he turned _**"stay. Here" **_he growled and Maka glued herself to the spot. He really just growled at her. He'd never do that.

Crona shook himself then resumed walking towards the warehouse and he didn't stop even when the men yelled for him to. It was dark so he simply looked like an incredibly large man coming towards them and so they gave him another warning and pointed their weapons at him "hey! You hear me? I said stop" the boy didn't and he flexed his fixed, the tips pointing out into claws "this is your last warning! Stop now or-"

Crona pointed his hand out "_bloody_ _lance_" a black lance shot out and impaled the yelling man in the neck.

The others stepped back in shock and horror "what the fu-"

"_Bloody_ _Multiplier_" the dead man's hands limply pointed out to his comrades and black lances shot out of them as well, punching right into two other men through their heads and hearts and the newly dead repeated this quickly impaling all of the eight men who came out to see what was happening.

A wave went down Crona's arm and into the lances as electricity arced down the length and the men all shook and dissolved into a soupy black liquid as all of Crona's alchemy grenades floated up out of his armor, ripples marking the parts the came from. The grenades circled him as dark purple electricity arced over them and then they exploded in a shower of rainbow colored liquid. The newly made black blood floating where the dead men once stood and it along with the rainbow mixture imploded and mixed, swirling in the air for a moment before it split into seven separate masses.

Each mass splattered onto the ground and quickly took on the form of seven of the same creatures Crona had made three weeks ago during the exam, and most would have wondered why there was only seven. The answer was that he could only make that many. He had tried making more of these creatures before during an experiment Stein had wanted to try, he thought that their unbelievable speed and strength would be able to help the Military, but oddly enough, his limit seemed to be seven during the experiment and every time afterwards. No matter how much matter he converted into what he needed, the extra matter would just split itself up and distribute itself among the seven making them stronger and more dense.

But seven was all the boy needed to bring hell to everything around him "_you_ _all_ _know_ _what_ _to_ _do_" he told his Black Blood Terrors "_kill_ _them_ _all_" the creatures all snickered and disappeared in a flash.

Crona walked up to the giant metal doors and he heard screams coming from the roof, his Terrors no doubt killing the guards posted up top, and he brought his fist back as red lipped mouth forming on the back of his hand. The mouth snapped open with a silent scream and moment the black fist connected with the metal there was a sonic explosion that made the doors crumple inward and collapse as if they were nothing, smashing a few dozen armed men who were running out to quell the disturbance. Crona stepped up onto the broken blast-doors and walked inside, a large pool of red already leaking out from under it. He stopped and looked inside to see at least a good hundred people, most of whom were wearing black robes or armor with strange spider-like masks covering their faces and the rest were men and women, most covered in bruises or half-naked in ratty clothing.

There was a flash of movement to his sides, but Crona didn't even have to turn to know that his Terrors were standing next to him and he chuckled as all of the men in the room pointed guns at him _"you have no idea who you're messing with do you?"_ he asked as his Terrors snickered. There was a cracking sound as the zigzag line that was Crona's mouth opened up into a maw of triangular sharp teeth as he began laughing _"momma always hated ignorant people!" _he yelled before he bent forward and used Ragnarok to roar and his Terrors all roared along with him. They sounded like demons to the men inside.

Crona charged and his Terrors all disappeared as the men in the room opened fire while the other people ran away screaming towards the back of the room, but the bullets did nothing but graze and spark off Crona's armor as he ran forward. He grabbed onto two of the men by the head and crushed their skulls and threw them into the others, knocking them to the ground as his Terrors disappeared and reappeared all over the room, slicing clean through any men in their path. Crona pointed his hands out and shot out lances which split and snaked around like dozens of octopus arms, impaling men left and right letting screams ring out left and right inside of the warehouse.

The boy and his Terrors kept up this unmerciful slaughter and outside Maka couldn't do anything but run down to a phone and call for the MPs to come and help and when she ran to see what was happening she instantly regretted it. When she came around the edge of the destroyed doorway she stopped and stared wide eyed as she witnessed Crona tear a man's throat out with his armor's teeth then rip him in half. She stood frozen to the spot as Crona and his creatures ripped and cut the men to pieces until there was no one left.

When the battle finally ended the boy looked around the now blood soaked building and chuckled to himself smiling from behind his armor, but then his smile turned to wide eyed fear when he saw Maka standing at the edge of the doorway, and then it turned to anger "_Maka_" he growled and took a step forward _"I thought I told you to stay outside!" _he turned back and saw all of those people from before cowering at the back of the warehouse and growled more. They all thought he was a freak now, a monster even though he had just saved their lives _"all of you are safe now, get out of here and the Military will help you when they get here_" he ordered, but the people didn't budge and then Crona snarled. He hated ungrateful people so damn _**much**_! "_NOW_!" he used Ragnarok and roared again causing the people to flinch and quickly run towards the exit, trying their best to keep their distance from him.

Crona watched them as they left, hating them the entire time, but then he sniffed the air, using Ragnarok to track the scent of that plushie Mizune had given him and he looked over the room as the people flooded out. The scent didn't lead to any of the people running out but back inside one of the rooms at the back edge of the warehouse so he followed it. He followed the smell, stepping over corpse after corpse until he stopped in front of one of the booths and he noticed that the same burning in his chest from when he was near Mizune was happening again. Crona pulled the curtain to the side and found himself looking down at a young curvy purple haired woman in skin-tight clothes with… were those cat ears on the top of her head? She was sitting down in the blankets hugging herself and shaking.

The ears on her head twitched as Blair felt that someone was looking at her and when she looked up at Crona she yelped and backed away "_don't_ _worry_" Crona said slowly kneeling down "_I'm_ _not_ _going_ _to_ _hurt_ _you_" Blair shook her head and backed away further, then Crona's chest-plate liquefied and he reached in and pulled something out "_please_ _trust_ _me_, _your_ _friend_ _sent_ _me_ _to_ _look_ _for_ _you_" he opened his hand and Blair looked at her plushie and her look softened and filled with confusion and realization.

She didn't even notice the tears forming in her eyes "Mizu" Crona held the toy out more and she took it with shaky hands "s-she's alright" she hugged it to her chest and began crying openly "she's alright."

"_And_ _now_ _so_ _are_ _you_" Crona reached his hand out "_come_ _on_, _your_ _friend's_ _waiting_" Blair looked up at him and slowly nodded taking his hand "_there_ _you_ _go_, _everything's_ _going_ _to_ _be_ _alright_ _now_" he stood up and helped her up with amazing care.

Crona led her out of the booth and led her towards the door just as the MPs ran into the warehouse. They froze the moment they entered and then pointed their guns at Crona, but Maka grabbed their weapons "no, hold your fire! It's only Crona!" the men looked at the armored boy with shock and when their attention shifted to the corpses they shivered as he passed them.

Crona continued to lead Blair towards the doorway, slowly calming himself down and feeling good that he found this Blair girl, but then he twitched when he smelled something new and his eyes widened. He roughly shoved Blair forwards and Maka quickly recovered from her surprise and caught the taller girl just as a cannon shell hit Crona in the chest as he was turning.

Crona clutched his chest and panted in pain as some of his armor chipped and fell away and he looked up when he heard someone laughing "aww, what's a matter freak? Did that hurt?" he followed the sound of the voice and saw a man with a large glove on his right hand that had a big blue crystal in the back and he recognized it as the man from three weeks ago, the one who attacked him back at Command and who was now standing up on one of the supports which was morphed into a cannon "I fucking hope it did."

"_You_" Crona growled looking up at the man _"but I thought you were a soldier, not an alchemist."_

The man laughed and lifted up the glove "I got an upgrade, you see, Arachnophobia keeps their allies well supplied" he knelt down and put the glove to the support, where electricity arced and cannons morphed out of the metal and he laughed insanely "so now how about you choke on this you son of a bitch!" he yelled as the cannons fired.

The shells all hit Crona and the floor around him, throwing up a large cloud of debris filled smoke and Maka and the other soldiers looked at it wide eyed as the man up on the support laughed, but then the smoke cleared and Crona was still standing, though bits and pieces of his armor was crumbling away and Maka noticed that he was shaking, but somehow she knew that it wasn't with fear.

"_Ragnarok_… _Get_. _**Off**_" he growled and the armor liquefied and changed into the Chimera "take Maka and the others and leave."

"Got it" Ragnarok walked over and put a hand on Maka's shoulder "come on, he'll be fine" he told the soldiers who nodded and backed away with relief, they had all heard of what Crona was capable of and they wanted to get as far away as possible "you heard the man, let's go" he lightly pushed Maka and Blair towards the doorway.

Maka was confused when she felt something on her shoulder and when she looked up at Ragnarok she saw that his eyes were wide and that the feeling on her back was his hands shaking and this terrified Maka. It terrified her that this giant Chimera, capable of slaughtering hundreds of people without even giving them a second glance, was scared by that little boy standing alone with a dangerous man.

The traitor laughed down at Crona "you must be real fucking insane to let all of those people go, it just makes it all the easier for me to kick your ass freak!" he put his glove to the support again and Crona heard the cannons reload "I just want you to know that after I'm through with you I'll be taking care of all those pricks that dropped me after I tried putting you down like the monster you are" Crona looked down and began shaking again. The man's eyes narrowed when he heard that he was chuckling "the fuck is so funny?"

Crona shook his head and then threw his head back and began laughing insanely "you really are stupid mister!" he laughed looking up at the traitor and then he grinned darkly "tell me something mister, did it ever cross your mind 'what happened to the others that were in here with me?'" he asked as the man's face fell and he looked to the side and saw two of the seven snickering Terrors that surrounded him.

Crona snapped his fingers and one of the Terrors kicked the traitor off the support and the others jumped off after him. The Terrors began shooting around the room, bouncing and ricocheting off the walls, ceiling, and floor and slamming into the man in the air from every direction until one of them kicked him towards Crona. Crona simply held his arm out to the side and close-lined the man before stepping forward and he kneed him in the stomach then grabbed him by the head and slammed him into the ground.

"Poor stupid little man" Crona taunted picking the man back up and then he slammed his head back down, smashing his nose "you really thought you had a chance against me?" Crona threw the man up into the air where one of his Terrors did a flip-kick, hitting him right in the face with its heel, throwing him back down to Crona who kneed upward, hitting the traitor in the stomach again, making him cough up blood "stupid, _stupid_, _**stupid**_" Crona chuckled lifting his leg up and stomping down on the man's stomach, grinning when he heard ribs crack "… hey mister? Do you wanna know something about me?" Crona asked crouching down next to the man's head "I really, _really_, love doing things like this" he picked the man up by the hair and chuckled at his bloody face "you know… there's something I've noticed lately, I've noticed that the people who look at me think either one of two things, they either think 'he's a freak' or 'he's so innocent, he doesn't want any of this'" he chuckled and smashed the man's head back down into the ground "and let me tell you that the latter is wrong" he grinned down at the man as he groaned and attempted to pick himself up "I absolutely love doing things like this" he stomped down on the man's back earning a cry of pain "here mister, let me tell you a story about a little kid named Crona, and why he enjoys hurting people so much, I'm sure you'll like it…"

And so while Crona took his time beating on the traitor Ragnarok led the others away from the warehouse and when they were on the outskirts of the large group of people Crona rescued the Chimera sat down and rubbed his head muttering to himself as the man's screams were easily heard through the broken door "just ignore it, just ignore it and it'll go away, just ignore it…" he shook himself as the other people looked at the warehouse with fear.

Maka looked down at the Chimera and her confusion was evident "Ragnarok, why are you so afraid of him?"

Ragnarok looked up at her and she was surprised when he didn't yell or say anything witty "because like I said before, I understand him better then you ever will" he shook his head "when he made me… I caught a few bits of his life" he gritted his teeth and growled "and I sometimes go digging around in his head when I'm in him, and the things I see-" he shook his head again "-… look kid… Crona, when's he's on the job… when he's out- ok you know what, to hell with it, when he's out fucking slaughtering dozens of people, he _enjoys_ it!"

"What are you talking about? Why would he-"

"Because of the shit he had to go through before!" Ragnarok snapped looking up at her angrily "you've got no fucking clue what he had to go through, you think I don't but I've seen it in his head, all of those days he got his ass tortured, all those times he got hurt, it broke him, it shattered his fucking mind" he pointed over to the warehouse and emphasized on the man's screaming "you all think that that kid is all good, not a bad bone in his body, but no, nobody's like that, especially not him" he growled again "you think everyone in the South accepted his help? No, a whole lot of them called him a freak, they made fun of him, they even tried to hurting him, and all of that abuse left a bitter hole in him."

"I hated all of it" Crona chuckled stomping down on one of the man's hands and twisting his foot, earning another cry of pain "but I never did anything to them for what they did to me, I let them abuse me and never fought back, but that doesn't mean I didn't want to" he picked the man up the hair again with his left hand "all of that hate, all of that bitter aggression built up and soon it started feeling like I wouldn't be able to stop myself if I fought back" a sword formed in his right hand "but then I noticed how fun it was when I hurt the bad people" he dropped the man and slashed up, severing the arm with the glove on it, making the man scream in agony before he hit the ground face first.

"You son of a bitch!" he yelled looking up "you cut my arm off! You cut off my fucking-"

"Shut up" Crona pointed the tip of the sword a centimeter from the man's face "just shut up and listen, you'll live longer" the man clammed up but Crona noticed with a sick smile that the man was crying.

"That kid, he did shit that horrified me. Me! A Chimera made to kill people" Ragnarok shook his head after he heard the loud scream come from the warehouse "he took out all of that pent up aggression on the people that no one would miss, that no one would shed a tear for, and he enjoyed every moment, and you wanna know why?" he asked looking up at Maka sadly "it's because he was the one in control for once. It's because for once in his life, he was the one causing someone else pain and he loved how it felt."

"When I'm here, causing pain to others, it fills that hollow hole in my heart dug by people like you" he walked over and picked up one of the bodies that littered the floor "the ones who made fun of me, the ones who hurt me, and it always felt so good" electricity arced over the body and it shrunk down into a strange diamond shaped creature that almost looked like a large hermit crab in the palm of his hand "and it never stopped feeling good" he walked over to the traitor and kicked him in the side, flipping him over and then Crona sighed "you know mister it's sad really… it's tragic that the only people who truly understand me are the ones I have to kill" the man looked up at him wide eyed and fearful.

"But you said-"

"I said you'd live longer if you listened" Crona chuckled darkly as he dropped the Chimera onto the man's chest "and well" the creature crawled onto the man's face "it's been longer" a long needle shot out of the Chimera's underside and stabbed into the man's forehead, right into his brain and the man twitched under it "you know, I enjoy this little Chimera very much mister, I like to call it an Interrogator" electricity arced over the diamond part of Chimera "Mama used to use these little ones to interrogate Military prisoners she kidnapped, I won't go into detail on how it works though, all you need to know is that this is going to hurt a lot" the electricity shot down the needle and into the man's head and he began writhing on the ground screaming at the top of his lungs and soon he was foaming at the mouth. When the man finally stopped twitching and went limp the needle slid back into the Chimera and it crawled out onto Crona's shoulder sending the information and the location of seven other Arachnophobia bases "well isn't that convenient?" Crona asked with a chuckle and then he turned to his Terrors "you all know what to do" they all snickered and disappeared.

Crona looked around the room and walked over to a convenient pile of bodies which he then transmuted into another Chimera, this one was shaped like a fleshy balloon and it had teeth on the bottom that bit into the ground and held it in place. Crona made sure that the transmutation circle on the side of it was perfect then snapped his fingers and the mouth on the top of the Chimera opened up as electricity shot out into the air and the particles glowed and floated into the Chimera's mouth, slowly inflating it. Crona turned away from his Bloater, picked up the severed arm and left the warehouse behind him as the Chimera inflated itself with the extremely explosive liquid it transmuted out of the air. Oh yeah, that was something else Crona could do that shocked many people, he could make alchemist Chimera. Yeah, he's that powerful.

Normally Crona wouldn't let one of his Chimera die, but that was only because he believed that any creatures that could think didn't deserve to die, but thankfully, the Bloaters didn't think, they only had two functions, inflate, and explode, Crona could never detect any thoughts coming from that type of Chimera. Crona walked towards the group he rescued and when he felt that the Bloated had inflated enough he snapped his fingers sending out a mental signal to the Chimera to ignite.

Crona didn't even turn as the entire warehouse exploded behind him and he walked over to Maka and the others when he saw them "here, take this to Stein back at Command" he tossed the arm over to one of the soldiers who caught it then dropped it when he saw what it was before another picked it up and nodded to Crona "come on, Mizune will be happy to know that you're alright" he nodded over to Blair who looked back at the blaze bitterly before she looked at Crona and smiled.

Before he could do anything Blair stepped forward and hugged him and that seemed to snap him out of the cold calm he was in "thank you" the hug tightened as she began shaking "thank you, thank you, thank you" she broke down and cried and Crona didn't know what else to do so he slowly hugged her back.

Crona looked down at her as she sobbed and didn't know what to say "… I-it's alright… y-you're okay now" he tried being as gentle as he could. He didn't know how to deal with helping people with their problems; he could barely handle his own "come on… your friend will be waiting for us" Blair looked up at him and nodded her head, but she didn't let go.

"We can give you a ride sir" one of the soldiers nodded to him and directed them to a car when Crona agreed and Maka agreed.

The entire car ride to the building Sid was staying at Blair never let go of Crona, but he didn't say anything, he knew how much easier it was to get over something when you had someone for comfort, just look at him and Maka. When the group made it to the building Crona thanked the soldier and led Blair inside and smiled when he saw Mizune still sitting down in the blanket.

She noticed them and her eyes widened as Crona smiled at her "I-I told you we'd bring her back."

Blair's eyes began watering when she saw her friend "Mizu."

Mizune's eye's watered along with the cat-girls "Blair."

Blair let go of Crona and hugged Mizune and the two girls cried in each other's arms and Crona couldn't help but smile, a nice little flame of satisfaction glowing inside him when he saw their relief at seeing each other safe "you did really good today Crona" Maka said smiling up at the boy and he nodded, but then he looked down.

"Maka… I'm sorry that you saw me like that" he shook his head and looked at her sadly "I-I can't stop myself when I get like that, I-I hurt people and I can't stop myself."

"Crona, don't apologize, you didn't do anything wrong" she put a hand on his shoulder "Ragnarok told me about what happened to you, I understand why you do those things."

It wasn't right for him to feel like this, he deserved better, but what could she do? She had thought about it and thought about it, but nothing came to mind besides hugging him, though that obviously wasn't going to work this time. She hated this, everything she thought about did nothing but make her feel stupid because it wouldn't make him stop saying these things. She wished that she could just do something off the top of her head and make him feel better, but she didn't know how.

"But… but I still shouldn't do that, I-it's wrong, it's sick what I do-" he continued.

"Crona-" Maka began but he kept going.

"I-I shouldn't do things like that, hurting people like that is wrong, enjoying it isn't right" he shook his head and took a step back. What could she do? "I-I'm not a good person for thinking like this" she had to do something to help him "g-good people don't think like this" to hell with it "they don't-" Maka leaned in and kissed him, cutting off any more of his self loathing.

She backed away and looked into his confused eyes holding back every part of her common sense screaming at her to apologize, to take back what she had just done, but she ignored it. "Stop talking about yourself like that Crona" she hugged him and he looked down at her with stunned confusion, though his cheeks steadily reddened as he realized what just happened "I'm not going to let you talk about yourself like that anymore."

"You just… y-y-you just _kissed_ me" he almost whispered still not believing it.

Maka backed up and smiled "it was the only way I could think of making you stop" she leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the forehead, common sense be damned, he needed her help "and I've gotta say, it wasn't that bad" she giggled as his cheeks flared. It really did feel alright, a bit awkward given the circumstances but still good.

The two of them then turned when they heard an "ahem" and turned to see Blair and Mizune looking back at them with smiles as they wiped the last of their tears away "I guess this night is going well for everyone" Mizune leaned her head to the side and rubbed her cheek against Blair's "and we just wanted to thank you for saving us" both her and Blair walked over to the boy and before he could react the two women leaned forward and kissed him on both cheeks "it's not much, but thank you."

Crona's face was beet red as he reached up and touched his cheeks. He didn't know how to deal with so many women kissing him; he didn't know what to do or even what to think for that matter. What was going on?

"Again, thank you so much for saving me" Blair smiled at Crona before she rested her head on Mizune's shoulder "and thank you for bringing me back to Mizune."

Crona eventually got over the kisses and smiled at the girls "n-no problem" he then frowned thinking of something "oh, d-do you need a ride back to your homes? Your families are probably worried sick."

Mizune flinched at the word family and she looked down sadly "no… they aren't" Blair looked down with the same expression.

Crona didn't understand at first, but then it came to him and face fell when he realized it "oh… o-oh I am so sorry-"

"No, it's fine" Blair shook her head "you were just thinking positive" she sighed "our families were both killed when Arachnophobia came; we're all on our own."

Maka looked at them sadly. They were both just like Crona almost, no family with only the support of their friends to help them. She stared sadly for a moment then brightened up "hey! You two could come with us" she offered "the house we have has a few extra rooms" she looked over at Crona "it would be no problem right?" Crona shook his head smiling "see?"

The girls both frowned "are you sure?" Mizune asked looking to the side "we wouldn't want to be a burden, especially after you helped us."

"Like I said, it wouldn't be a problem" Maka assured them "you wouldn't be any trouble at all."

Mizune turned to Blair and the two seemed to consider it before they both nodded "well… okay then, if you're sure" Blair smiled.

"Great" Maka smiled back at the girls "well then let's not waste any time" Maka walked over to the two girls and looped her arm under theirs "hey Sid, do you think you could give us a ride back to our place?"

Sid smiled and nodded "I don't think that would be a problem."

Crona watched Maka as she and the others walked out of the building to go to the car and then he felt Ragnarok slide out of his back "well this day was eventful."

"Yeah…" Crona watched Maka as she left and his hand lifted slowly up and touched his lips "it really was."

Ragnarok looked down at him and made a gagging sound "oh come on! You're seriously telling me you fell for that flat-chested girl?" he asked shaking his head "how the hell could you think about her when you've now got those two fine pieces of ass coming to live with you?"

Crona's hand fell and his cheeks burned "Ragnarok, don't say things like that, its pervy."

"Oh please I can see what you're thinking about; I caught you looking at the cat-girls backside."

"S-shut up! I was not" his cheeks burned all the brighter before he ran out of the building to catch up with the others "please Ragnarok, _please_ don't say anything rude to them."

Ragnarok grinned with a snicker "oh, too late for that" he looked over to the two half-chimeras as Maka helped them in to the car "nice ass you two!"

* * *

_**Alright, I know that the way I introduced Blair and Mizune, but I didn't know how else to do it in a way that would address the villains for the story. I hope no one dislikes it or my little OOC thing with Crona, but come on, he's always getting picked on I think he deserves to be the pain bringer for once.**_


	7. FINALLY

_** Ok, this is more of a romance builder chapter, there's a little violence at the end, but it's quick. I hope you all still like it though.**_

_** REVAMPED Chapter, enjoy.**_

* * *

_**Two weeks later**_

"God I hate Mondays!" Soul groaned with his face down, buried in his arms on the table he was sitting at "they're so freaking uncool."

Crona looked down at the scythe alchemist and frowned with confusion "what's wrong with Mondays? They seem fine to me."

Soul turned his head and gave the boy a side long glance and sighed "nothing ever happens on Mondays, they're so boring!" he groaned "something needs to happen!"

Crona looked around thinking "um… I guess we could spar like last time" he shrugged.

Soul looked over at him wide eyed and scooted away a little "no, no, it's cool I can find something else to do" he said quickly.

You see Soul had made the mistake of asking Crona for a quick fight to pass the time and for him not to hold back a few days ago and let's just say that for the next following days Soul had a little trouble sitting down… and walking… and breathing, and… you know what never mind you get the point.

"Well there isn't much else to do then… " Crona scratched the side of his head thinking.

Soul gave him another glance and couldn't help but smile a small unnoticeable smile when he thought about how much this kid had come out of his shell. He almost never jumped at random loud noises, he'd gotten used to blocking out people's thoughts, at least the ones he'd come to know anyway, and he barely stuttered anymore, well except for when a certain ashy-haired alchemist was near him.

"Hey there guys" speaking of the devil, Maka easily jumped over the small hedge separating her from the boy's park table.

"Oh, h-hi Maka" Crona glanced at her and then down at his fork and she rubbed the back of her head as he began fiddling with it, spinning it in between his fore-fingers "w-what brings you here?"

"I was nearby with the girls when I noticed that I left something over here in the park and I was coming to get it when I saw you… so… yeah I thought I'd just say hi" she smiled at Crona, though Soul noticed that her eyes seemed to move to the side away from him while Crona blushed and looked down, leaving him to wonder what all of that was about, and then she remembered something "oh yeah I almost forgot, my dad sent for me and told me to tell you that he wanted to talk."

Crona frowned looking up at her "about what?"

Maka shrugged and turned around "beats me, he didn't say, all he said was for you to meet with him back at our house at six thirty."

"Oh, well okay then" that wasn't for another couple hours, so he didn't start fretting over being late and making someone wait.

"Well yeah, so just thought I'd say hi" she waved her hand a little uncomfortably "bye guys" she left to go get whatever it was she left.

"See ya tiny" Soul chuckled after his comment earned him a rather vulgar hand gesture.

"Yeah… see ya" Soul looked up at Crona and noticed how his eyes were following Maka as she walked away, and that sweet smile on his face and that tiny blush on his cheeks- oh holy crap.

"Crona" Soul straightened up and looked at the boy's face closer ~much to the boy's discomfort~ and his eyes widened when he realized it "… you've got the hots for Maka don't you?" he grinned when he saw how Crona reacted.

His eyes widened and his blush deepened "w-what? N-no, no I-"

"You do!" Soul's grin widened as Crona's eyes started shifting around "oh my god! You do!" he laughed while the boy fumbled for words.

"N-no! I don't! W-we're just friends, I don't think about her like-" Ragnarok slid out of his back and flicked the side of his head.

"Oh stop lying to yourself" he poked Crona in the head "there hasn't been one moment when I haven't heard you thinking about that she-pig after that stupid kiss" Soul's eyebrows shot up.

Soul backed up in surprise "excuse me?"

"Ragnarok! S-shut up" Crona tried ordering the Chimera, but his voice came out shaky and embarrassed.

Soul leaned in and couldn't keep the surprise out of his look "so… let me get this straight, _she_ kissed _you_?" he asked with disbelief "little miss permanent V-card actually took initiative and kissed a _guy_ not the other way around?"

Crona shook his head as his face got hotter "I-it's more complicated then that-"

"Oh god!" Ragnarok groaned into the air "you should see how these two have been acting around each other since that stupid night" Ragnarok put his finger in his mouth and made an obnoxious gagging noise "all the quick glances, all the embarrassed blushes whenever they bump into each other-"

"Ragnarok come on cut it out" Crona whined "I don't know how to deal with people talking about this so easily, it's embarrassing."

Ragnarok just shook his head and flicked Crona again "seriously, if you want to get in her pants so freaking bad just stop being a little bitch, grow a set of balls and talk to her."

"I-I don't want to do that!" Crona said quickly "I-I would never do something like-"

"All those 'innocent' little dreams you've been having lately would say otherwise" Ragnarok crossed his arms as Soul rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably.

"Wow… just… wow" Soul shook his head looking back at Crona "I know that you're naïve and all but Maka? Seriously? I took you for more of a curve loving man."

Crona's cheeks burned as he looked to the side "I-I'm not like that" he looked away when he thought back to Maka and he felt a jolt of irritation at Soul's comment "and Maka _has_ curves" he said before he could stop himself.

Crona then winced when Soul raised an eyebrow "and how would you know this?"

Crona's started darting around "I-I-I… I" he looked at Soul and saw that the white haired boy was getting ready for an interrogation and then he looked down in defeat "I… kind of walked in on her… after she was coming out of the shower" Soul's eyebrows shot up and his jaw hit the table "it was an accident!" he said quickly "o-one of my Chimera was messing around and it took some of my drawing pencils" he was trying so hard to make this sound less bad.

Soul recovered from his shock but it was still evident "so you saw her…" he rolled his hand in the air searching for a way to say this right "in all of her glory?"

Crona's entire face was beet red as he slammed his head into the table when he thought back to the fifth edition Russian dictionary which hit him in the face and threw him out of the doorway "s-she already had underwear on a-and was putting on her bra when I walked in, I-I didn't see anything."

Soul turned around and leaned on the table "sooo… where does she hide these curves exactly?"

"She wears a vest and a skirt; you do the math" Crona mumbled with some irritation again surprising Soul, he was almost never sarcastic "t-the only thing she doesn't have is… breasts" his temperature raised a few degrees "b-but other then that she does have curves" Crona was practically steaming when he thought back to that beyond embarrassing day.

"Wow" Soul shook his head and then chuckled "ohoho man, the guys are gonna love this-"

Crona's head shot up "you can't tell anyone about this!" he grabbed Soul by the front of his shirt and the boy's eyes were wide "d-do you have any idea what she would do to me if she found out I told someone? I-I don't even want to know how to deal with thinking about something as horrible as that."

Soul put his hands up "alright, alright, point taken, I know how she can get" Crona let go and slumped in his chair with a sigh of relief "you forget, I've known that girl since we were kids" Soul chuckled but then Crona looked at him then he started fidgeting with his hands again. The older boy watched his friend but finally he shifted around from the look "what?"

"Do you… do you know what kind of things she likes?" he asked and Soul raised an eyebrow then he chuckled and shook his head.

At first Crona thought Soul would just keep laughing but then Soul crossed his arms "for one thing she completely despises most men" Crona frowned at him and Soul nodded his head "I know, I know, it's weird, but according to her she totally hates how 'competitive and vulgar' we are" he waved his hands emphasizing the quote "so in that department I can safely say that you're safe, seeing as how when you aren't out kicking bad guy ass you're a perfect little gentlemen" he scratched the side of his head thinking "hmmm… well she likes art of almost any kind, that's probably the only reason why she bothers with me and my piano skills, and if I heard right you said your Chimera took some drawing pencils?" Crona nodded "… you… wouldn't happen to have any of them on you? Your drawings?"

"Oh, w-well yeah" Crona unclipped the clasps on the bag that was sitting next to the table "here" he pulled out a thin book and handed it to Soul.

Soul opened the book and flipped through some of the pages, seeing perfect sketches of the Chimera Crona was able to make, with little side notes next to them explaining strengths and weaknesses and what part did what, and then he then saw sketches of some of the state alchemists doing various types of alchemy, again with little explanation notes next to them "holy crap man this stuff is awesome" Soul commented flicking through the pages until he was on a page with a woman on it, and she didn't have any notes about her, and as Soul studied her he didn't recognize her as an alchemist. She was gray like all the others so he couldn't tell what color her hair was, but he saw that it was braded to where it hung down her front down to the chest and he saw that she was smiling with her eyes closed and all together he had to say she looked pretty hot "who's this? You seeing a little side action Crona?" he chuckled.

Crona looked down and seemed somewhat sad "that's… my mother actually."

Soul stopped laughing "oh… oh crap dude, sorry" he handed the book back "really man, I am so, so sorry about that, I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories."

"No, no I-It's no problem, you didn't know" Crona looked down at the drawing of his mother and sighed "… you know, she was always so beautiful whenever she smiled like that… whenever she actually smiled instead of putting on a showed" he looked so sad staring down at that drawing he made.

Soul tapped his fingers on the bench repeatedly and looked at Crona uncomfortably "uhh, well you seem pretty down with the artistic factor" he said eager to change the subject "and… well I guess the only other thing I've seen that she likes are books" Crona closed the sketch book and put it away, then frowned at Soul.

"Books?"

"Yeah, books, her parents buy her tons of the things every chance they get, and she seems to blow through them faster then you can read a sticky note" he chuckled and then shrugged "so I don't know man, get her a few books, maybe that'll get her attention, she doesn't seem to read any one genre, so that helps… though I've noticed that she's obsessed with notes from successful alchemists" he nodded to himself again "you ever heard of a guy named Eibon?"

The name instantly rang bells in Crona's head "he was the most successful alchemist of his time" Crona went through his bag and came out with a few journals, copies of work by you know who "he was fixated on finding the source of immortality to save his sick wife and ended up creating dozens of new forms of medicines which helped millions of people, mama made me study his works with bio-alchemy until I could recite entire journals on the spot" he looked at the journals and his eyes sparkled "his experiments are amazing."

"Yeah Maka thinks so too" he nodded to himself with another chuckle "though you see, there's one book that she is obsessed with finding, and that's Eibon's Journal" Crona frowned at him and Soul shook his head chuckling as he picked up one of the thin books on the table "what you think these are his journals? No, these are just notes on similar experiments all packed into covers" he put the book back down and tapped his head "no, the book she wants is Eibon's actual journal, the one where he kept his big experiments, the book said to be written in a dozen different languages and arranged in a way that only someone who really wanted to know what he found could translate and decrypt" he smiled up into the sky "and that would be Maka, the girl who reads a dozen dictionaries everyday learning the words of other languages and their definition and pronunciation, the girl who studies ciphers of every form until her eyes are numb" he chuckled again "she's crazy I tell ya."

"Amazing is more like it" Crona said resting his head on his arms and Soul looked back at him with a grin.

"You really like her don't you?" he asked and Crona decided to forget about denying it and he nodded.

"She's sweet, kind, smart; pretty" he smiled to himself despite the gagging noises Ragnarok was making "there's nothing bad about her."

Soul turned around and patted his back with a smile "well good for you dude, it's good to see that you aren't some scared little kid afraid of expressing his feelings when there's no point hiding them" he got up and stretched "well Crona, come on let's go hit the fair-grounds, we've got nothing better to do so why not go pass the time there right? We've got like what, five hours till you have to head home?"

"Yeah, t-that sounds nice" Crona nodded and as he got up he made a mental note to send a message to some of his friends down at the South.

These particular men were… 'Treasure hunters' of a sort who lived that life just to survive and whom Crona had stumbled upon and saved when some of their _'adventures'_ went wrong. The boy had managed to convince these men to switch to a less hazardous and illegal way of life working with some people he knew who were looking for strong workers and they had told Crona that they owed him their lives, and they helped him out to this day. Some of them were bound to know something about Eibon's Journal, or at least something about it.

And while the two boys got up to go blow away five hours they never noticed the dark-haired girl who was peeking up over the hedge watching them. Tsubaki stood up, her face a deep red; she had heard all of it, even down to the accidental walk in. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, she had just wanted to tell Maka that the young girl that she had picked up the copper pocket-watch given to the girl by her aunt and wanted to catch up to her and give it back and then she walked in on this conversation by accident. Crona loved Maka; that thought burned in her head even after she shook her head getting rid of most of the blush as she went to go find Maka.

When she finally found her Maka was crouching on the ground looking underneath a table "uhh Maka?" the girl looked up and saw Tsubaki.

"Oh Tsubaki, hey, do you think you could give me a hand?" Maka turned back to looking for the pocket watch.

"Is this what you're looking for?" Tsubaki held out the pocket watch and Maka looked back and frowned.

"You found it? Where was it? I've been looking for it all over the place over here" she asked taking the pocket watch gratefully.

"You dropped it back at the restaurant without even noticing, you were getting up to leave when I saw it and then you noticed it was gone and went running back here to look for it before I could say anything."

"Oh" Maka rubbed the back of her head feeling like an idiot now, then noticed something "uhh Tsubaki, is there a reason you're blushing?"

"Oh well uhh, I uh, I had to run to catch up with you, I'm just winded is all" she said not too quickly so it sounded false, and then Maka shrugged, seemingly content with the answer.

The two girls walked back to the restaurant where Liz and Patty were waiting for them and they both had glass cups with sundaes in them in both hands "hey you're back!" they said in unison "we bought sundaes!" Patty said happily holding out a glass for Maka.

Maka gladly took the cold treat and the four girls sat down at a table under and umbrella to get out of the heat, it was a hot one today. Tsubaki sucked on the straw of her sundae and thought about what she had heard Crona and Soul talking about then decided what the hell, why not? "So Maka, how have things been going with Crona lately?"

Maka looked up from her sundae and swallowed a big bite of ice-cream "oh he's been doing great lately, he's really come out, I'm so proud of him" she smiled to herself when she thought back to his timid smile he got whenever he saw her. At least he smiled openly now, it had usually taken a lot to get him to smile, but it came so easily lately.

Then her thoughts began shifting to that nervous little stutter he got whenever he was around her, afraid he might say something wrong, then to that almost unnoticeable quiver in his lips when he was embarrassed. Those sweet, soft lips- Maka snapped herself out of it, what was she thinking? She shouldn't be thinking about him like this.

Liz noticed the pink coming into Maka's cheeks and raised an eyebrow "oooh, someone's blushing? I wonder why?" she leaned in with a grin and Tsubaki gave a mental whoop of triumph. Good! She didn't need to say anything else and risk blurting everything out "huh… you know what? You two _do_ live with each other right?" Liz pursed her lips "is there something going on there?"

Maka looked at her like she was crazy "what? No, it's not like that!" she couldn't help her blush from deepening a little.

Patty giggled "oooh, Maka likes Crona, Maka likes Crona!" she sang and Maka looked around and saw that thankfully no one was looking.

"Shut up! I do not" her eyes started shifting around as she messed around with one of her pigtails "I don't like him… well I do like him, but I don't like-like him it's just… well I… maybe… maybe I do… just a little bit."

Liz's grin grew and she laughed "oh my god you do like him" she chuckled and then rested her head on her palm "well… he _is_ cute; I don't care if I am with Soul, that much has to be said about the little guy."

Tsubaki nodded "he's always so gentle and caring with everyone, he's always so shy too" she smiled and thought about the little timid boy "you know, when I think about it, I kind of see him as a sweet little brother almost."

Liz nodded at that and smiled thinking about him too "yeah, I totally get that, there's so much he doesn't understand, and we basically _do_ act like older sibling for him, explaining things to him and helping him out" she noted.

"Yeah, he's really fun too" Patty giggled thinking about all the times they played together "he does everything I say."

Liz looked to the side "yeah that's not always a good thing sis" she stirred her sundae as she thought about some of the crazy stuff her sister made poor naïve Crona do "like remember that time you made him eat all of those waffles you made for breakfast when you asked him to sleep over?" she shook her head and looked almost sick "god Patty, you made him eat fifty jumbo-waffles, that's too much for even him and that freaky metabolism of his" her face flooded with playful sadness "oh that poor baby, he was in that bathroom puking his guts out for ten straight minutes" Patty broke down into a fit of laughter and the others just chuckled and shook their heads.

"He really is great" Maka picked at her sundae thinking about the boy "he's always so kind and compassionate, the way he always takes his time making sure he does everything right, the way he struggles to get everyone's approval, that cute little blush he gets whenever I'm near him, the way he acts so careful since that night-" she opened her eyes and saw the others looking at her with eyebrows raised.

Tsubaki hadn't thought it would be this easy "what night Maka? What are you talking about?"

"Oh well I uhh, there was this one time he, you see it's a really funny story actually…" she saw that the others were getting ready to ask more deeply and she groaned giving up and then she mumbled under her breath

"I'm sorry what?" Liz asked leaning forward.

Maka muttered a little louder but still unintelligible and so Patty decided to give her a little motivation "just tell us damn it!"

Maka winced and looked down "alright fine! I kissed him okay?"

All the other girls' eyebrows shot up in surprise, and Tsubaki was able to successfully fake her shock, she was good at faking expressions, she needed it for if she ever had to play the part trying to get into a locked building.

Liz was the first to say something "you kissed him?" she asked in disbelief "_you_ kissed _him_?" she asked not believing it, she never thought Maka would be the one to take the charge "when and how did that happen?"

"Remember when me and Crona, well mostly Crona, busted those Arachnophobia bases two weeks ago? And rescued those two women, Blair and Mizune?" the girls all nodded, they knew all about the two half-chimera that were now living with Maka and Crona "well it happened then, he did a lot of scary things that night and after he had calmed down he kept saying all of these terrible things about himself and I couldn't think of what else to do to make him stop."

"… Was it good?" Liz asked making Maka's cheeks flare.

She slowly nodded "it was quick but that doesn't mean it wasn't good" she closed her eyes and thought back to that night "his lips were so soft…" her eyes snapped open and she shook her head "but I shouldn't have done that, I made things really weird between us and I think I've ruined everything" she put her head on the table "he's so evasive now, he keeps his distance now more then ever all because I did that."

Tsubaki smiled down at Maka and her hand on her shoulder "come on Maka you have to remember, this is Crona, he's just embarrassed is all" she picked Maka up and tapped her on the forehead "and don't forget that you've been avoiding him just as much" Tsubaki noted remembering all the times she saw the two of them when they were near each other, the way they would always struggle to talk or to even look at each other without blushing. At that time no one understood why, but now they all did.

Maka sighed "yeah… yeah I guess you're right, I have been avoiding him lately" she then yanked on her pigtails, and groaned "it's just so embarrassing! I don't know what to say to him, I've never done something like this before! I don't even know if he likes me like that."

Liz put her hand on Maka's other shoulder "Maka you've seen the way he looks at you, he does like you trust me, he's just as nervous about it as you are that's all" she frowned thinking about something "and for him it's probably worse, he's probably thinking he's done something wrong and he doesn't want to do anything else and risk screwing things up."

Maka slowly nodded her head, but the doubt was still there, flooding over everything else "you really think he feels the same way about me?" she asked and the other girls nodded.

"Why wouldn't he? You were the one who brought him here, the one who went out of her way to become his friend and help him out of his shell" Liz smiled and patted Maka on the back "seriously, I mean think back to the way he looked at you before, I know I noticed that little spark of appreciation whenever he saw you and now I see it more then ever."

Patty giggled then and scooted over to Maka "and besides, Maka may not be big but she sure is fun" Patty reached under Maka's arms and groped her, or in this case she basically patted her, which earned a squeak and a furious blush from the small girl.

"P-Patty! Don't do that" Maka squirmed out of her grasp and put her arms over her chest with embarrassment "you know how I feel about my size" she pouted when she looked around the girls "it's not fair that I'm the only one here who's small" she stopped on Tsubaki and slammed her head into the table again and groaned "and that's another thing, how could I even keep Crona entertained with this" she sat up and gestured to herself "Black Star's right, if I lost the pigtails and wore clothes like Soul no one would guess I'm a girl" she pouted again.

The other girls all laughed "oh come on Maka you know Crona better then all of us and even I know that he doesn't care about size" Tsubaki giggled but then she stopped and blushed "though he did seem to get really flustered after that one little mishap" she said remembering one time when she accidently tripped and fell on Crona, giving him a little unexpected personal time with her cleavage "but he did look adorable with that nosebleed" the girls all snickered and then broke down into laughter, even Maka laughed when they all remembered Crona's beet red blush and the little trickle of blood coming out his nose.

…

And so five hours later Crona and Soul split up on their way back home from the fair-grounds leaving Crona to wonder why Major Armstrong wanted to see him the entire walk home. Crona stepped up to his door and noticed the muffled hearty laughter coming from inside and when he opened the door he was literally hit with a powerful gust of wind caused by Alex's booming laughs, with the two half-chimera girls laughing next to him.

Blair's cat ears pricked when Crona walked in and when she poked her head up over the couch and saw him she smiled "Crona your back!" she popped over the couch and tackled him in a hug "I wished you would have told us about this guy, your friend is great! He's so funny" she laughed and looked up at Crona from down on her knees as he picked himself up, blushing.

"I-I'm sorry I didn't tell you he was coming, I only just heard about it a few hours ago" Crona apologized as he helped Blair up and Mizune just leaned over the back of the couch and waved the apology away.

"Oh don't worry about it, this guy's great" she chuckled poking Alex on the head "he's freaking hilarious."

"As are you two" he chuckled getting up and walking over to Crona "good to see you boy! Tell me, how have you been since the last time I saw you?" he asked picking Crona up with a normally backbreaking bear-hug.

"I-I-I've been fine sir thank you for asking" Crona said, not even wheezing from the pressure being exerted on his midriff "um… w-what was I that you needed to tell me if you don't mind me asking?"

Alex put Crona down and then nodded getting serious "come, let's sit down" Blair and Mizune felt that they should leave and did just that and went over to their shared room. Alex looked over at the door as it closed and then settled into the chair with a sigh "tell me Crona… you have no doubt heard the rumors of a rebel who has made it inside Central?"

"Y-you mean The Freezer?"

Alex nodded and he pulled out a picture "indeed, his true name is Isaac McDougal" he handed the picture to Crona "he hasn't tried anything yet but he is definitely inside Central, plotting in the shadows like a coward" he crossed his arms "you are to be put under the command of Colonel Mustang, he is in charge of bringing the Freezer in" he took the picture back and crushed it in his fist "or taking him down" Crona nodded, understanding "but that is not the only thing that I came here to tell you, my daughter and your colleagues are no doubt being briefed about this now as we speak and they will all be heading for Command soon, but I wished to tell you about this myself" Crona frowned not understanding "tell me, have you heard of the Fullmetal Alchemist?"

Crona's eyes widened "t-the one that doesn't use transmutation circles?" Alex nodded "then he… he's the other one who-"

"Who attempted a human transmutation yes" Alex turned and walked towards the door "I just felt I should tell you about it before hand, you probably have a few questions for him" Alex stepped through the door "good day."

Crona slumped down into the chair and he was sweating as the two Halflings poked their heads out of their room "is Crona alright?" Blair asked with concern as the two walked out along with Mizune "you look sick" she put her hand on his forehead, noting how pale he was.

Crona nodded not reacting from the touch at all "n-no I'm fine, I-it's just… I-I'm wondering if this other person went through the same thing as me" he gripped his arm.

Mizune frowned "what happened to you?"

"I-I don't know if it was a nightmare or not but when it was over my blood was gone, and then I had to deal with seeing a mauled version of my mother" Crona paled more remembering that day.

"Oh poor Crona" Blair's ears flicked down and she looked very sad "that's sounds really scary."

"It was" Crona nodded.

Mizune looked at him as he trembled and she put a hand on his shoulder "well don't worry Crona, you don't have to be scared anymore" both her and Blair leaned in and hugged him snapping him out of his fearful memory and making him blush "we still owe you a lot for saving us-"

"-So the least we could do is help you get over these bad memories" Blair finished for her as they both rubbed their cheeks against his, making his blush flare and when they felt how hot his face was getting they giggled "aww there we go, have you forgotten yet?"

"C-Cut it out, I-I don't know how to deal with people rubbing on me, I-it feels weird" the girls both giggled again.

"But it doesn't feel bad does it?" Mizune asked in Crona's ear making his blush deepen.

"Oooh, is Crona enjoying this?" Blair asked in his other ear, yet again making his face burn deeper.

"I know I am" Ragnarok slid out of Crona's back and rested his head in his palm, his elbow uncomfortably digging into Crona's scalp and he then sighed "man, I still don't understand how this kid can think about that she-pig when he's got two fine ass chicks rubbing up on him."

"Ragnarok come on, please stop calling Maka names" Crona looked up at the Chimera as the two girls looked at Crona with eyebrows raised.

"Wait, he's been thinking about Maka?" Blair asked as a sly smile crept over her and Mizune's faces "… oooh does Crona like Maka?"

"I… I just- it's complicated- I don't really know" Crona's eyes began shifting around as he struggled for words and the two girls giggled.

"Oh he does, he does!" Mizune giggled "well I for one think you two would make a nice couple."

"That makes two of us" Blair smiled at him as he began pressing his forefingers together "aww, he's so cute when he's embarrassed" she poked him on the nose.

"I just… I-I-I just feel uncomfortable talking about something like this" Crona looked down.

Mizune frowned again "how come? There's nothing wrong with talking about someone you like."

Blair studied Crona's face some and then her eyes widened "I think it's more then that Mizu… I think he loves her."

Mizune saw how Crona's eyes shifted more when Blair said that and she backed up in surprise "I think you're right Blair, is that true Crona?"

Crona struggled to answer "I… I don't know, maybe" he looked down "she's always so nice to me, she's always so patient and helpful" he rubbed his other arm when he thought about it "and every time I'm around her I feel weird, I-it feels like I have butterflies flying around in my stomach and I start feeling hot."

The two girls smiled "aww, how adorable!" they squealed in unison "young love is so cute!" Blair giggled.

Mizune smiled remembering her life before "ohhh I remember when Blair and I first met" Mizune moved over next to Blair and wrapped an arm around her waist "she was so adorable, I felt that way the moment I saw her" she rubbed her cheek against Blair's "and the cat ears and tail have just made her cuter in my book" she leaned up and kissed one of Blair's ears making the cat-girl shiver and blush.

"Mizu, come on" she groaned though she made no move to stop the mouse "you know my ears are my most sensitive part."

Mizune chuckled "oh I wouldn't say your most sensitive" her hand began inching down low and Crona saw this and squeaked shooting up off the couch.

"Well I think I should start heading over to Command!" he said quickly heading for the door despite Ragnarok's protest. He didn't know why but somehow he just knew that he should not be watching something like this.

"Hey-hey-hey! What the hell man I wanna watch-" but Crona was already out of the door.

"Take your time!" Mizune called before nuzzling into Blair's neck "now come on kitty-kitty, lets have some fun."

"Yes ma'am, but remember I'm the cat, so I get to eat you" Blair inched forward and the two locked in a kiss.

And outside on the already darkening streets Crona shook his head blushing deeply from what he had just saw. At least the two Halflings were able to succeed in diverting his thoughts away from his traumatic life before and for that he would be grateful.

Crona began thinking back to Maka and he smiled to himself while he was walking and he almost didn't notice the burning that had started in his chest at first. The burning steadily became more and more severe until Crona had to clutch his chest and breathing had gotten harder up to the point where his muscles burned and he had to lean against a wall to keep from collapsing.

Even with the pain making his ears ring he was still able to hear the angry muttering of someone in the alleyway near the wall he was on and he realized how the pain had shot up the closer he got to the alley. When he got to the edge of the alleyway he saw someone crouched down saying something about 'damn military dogs' and things like that and it was only when Crona stood at the entrance of the alley that the man noticed his presence and turned.

Crona recognized the man immediately, he'd only just seen a picture of him a little while ago "Isaac McDougal" Crona felt that the burning was coming from this man and suddenly he was filled with a deep anger that was followed by a huge flare up in pain. How was he doing this? "Make it stop" he growled through gritted teeth as Isaac stared at him with confusion "I said make it stop" Crona held his hand out and a sword formed in it "make the burning stop!"

Isaac's eyes narrowed "I don't know what the hell your deal is kid but burning's not my thing" he grabbed a canteen and threw it at Crona and it exploded into a huge cloud of steam "and besides, I don't have time to play with some stupid kid, I've got more important things to do."

Crona heard running footsteps and the anger in him flared "you're not going anywhere!" he took a breath and screamed blowing the smoke away and revealing Isaac a little ways further down the alley "you have to make it stop!" he yelled running forward ignoring the pain as Isaac looked back at him with surprise.

"How did you-" he shook his head as his surprise instantly turned to irritation while Crona closed in "didn't you hear me? I said I don't have time for this you damn freak!" he stepped forward and slammed his palm into Crona's chest.

The transmutation circle on Isaac's glove glowed and Crona was suddenly blasted away in an explosion of steam which threw him down the alley where he landed on his back in a steaming heap of burned red flesh. Isaac turned and walked away from the steaming body he just made and wondered what that was all about, but then shrugged and went back to work, he still had a few more circles to draw.

…

Crona stayed down on the ground for an increasingly disturbing amount of time almost before the first arc of purple electricity shot over his skin. More and more or the strange colored energy began arcing over him until he shot up panting from the intense pain all over his body as it forcefully absorbed the water around him.

He heard a groan and felt his back prickle "oh man, what the hell was all of that about?" Ragnarok asked popping out of Crona's back and looking down at Crona with an eyebrow raised "I got locked inside when you went totally berserk, felt like I was getting hardboiled inside of you. The hell man?"

"I… I don't know" Crona rubbed his head as the last of his body rehydrated itself "e-everything just suddenly started hurting and I got so angry" he painfully pushed himself back up then he looked up at he sky noticing how much darker it had gotten. He felt a jolt of worry "Ragnarok, h-how long was I down here?"

"Uh, about little over half an hour, maybe fifty minutes, I'd say" Crona's eyes widened.

He tore out of the alleyway and booked it over to Command as fast as he could. This Isaac person was supposed to be dangerous, and he supposedly wanted to destroy Central and everyone inside it related to the military in any way. Maka was inside right now. He was panting by the time he reached it and when he looked it over his arms slumped in relief. The sentries were still there, the walls were intact, there were no sounds of fighting. Isaac still hadn't attacked yet.

He breathed out and tried calming himself down as he walked into Central, showing his watch to the guards. He asked the front desk where Maka was and walked as quickly as he could through the hallways until he reached the Colonel's office.

When he stepped in he found Maka ~perfectly alright~ sitting down on a couch reading a magazine. She heard the door and looked up "oh, well look who decided to show up" she chuckled a little, but then finally noticed how hard he was breathing and knew it wasn't because of running "Crona is something wrong?" she got up and walked over to him staring with concern.

"I was…" he rubbed the back of his head, he didn't want to make her worry, that was the exact opposite of what he wanted. But she deserved to know "I was attacked" Maka's eyes widened "by Isaac McDougal" her eyes widened more.

"He attacked you? Oh my god, are you alright?" she led him back to the couch and sat him down "what happened?"

"I-I was on my way here when my chest started burning and it kept getting worse the closer I got to this alley" Crona sat down and rubbed his chest which was still stinging from that explosion "I found McDougal in the alleyway a-and I don't know why but I got really angry and attacked him, and he hit me with some kind of… steam explosion w-which knocked me out" Maka's look changed to one of shear horror "w-what? Why are you looking at me like that?" he didn't like that look.

"Crona… he's already killed at least five people, they were all found either frozen or boiled alive" she looked at him with worry "you… you could have died."

Crona looked at the worry in her eyes with his own "Maka I-I'm okay, really, m-my body healed itself" he assured her but she still looked unsure.

"You're positive you're okay?" she shuddered thinking back to the bodies she had seen "I… I saw what he did to some of those men" she couldn't keep her voice from quivering "oh god, I don't know what I would have done if I saw you burned like them."

"Maka I'm fine, you don't need to worry" Crona smiled as best he could but he still winced when Maka lightly touched his arm "I-I'm just a little sore."

She couldn't stop herself from leaning in and hugging him "you could have died" she said again, her body trembling "why?" Crona frowned down at her "why would you do something so stupid? Why would you go up against him all by yourself?" she asked shakily, looking up at him "do you have any idea how bad it would have hurt everyone if we saw you burned like those men? Do you have any idea how bad that would have hurt me?"

"Maka I… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt anyone" Crona looked at her sadly, feeling guilty "I-I didn't know you all cared so much-"

"Of course I care" she said quickly and Crona noticed she said I instead of we and she noticed it too "I mean we care" she shook her head scooting away from him "… uhh I… I'm sorry I went off like that" she apologized, but Crona just waved his hands quickly.

"Oh no, no, it's fine, I-I made you worry" he looked to the side.

The two teens stayed silent for quite a few minutes until they looked back at each other "hey-" they both began then blushed "uhh, you go first" Maka smiled uncomfortably.

"Maka… I just… a-after that night we've been avoiding each other a lot" he fidgeted with his fingers "I just have to know, are we good? I-I mean we're still friends right? You still like me?"

"Of course I like you Crona, you're one of my closest friends" Maka assured him, and when she saw that he was done she decided to ask her question "would you… I don't know, would you… like to be more then that?"

Crona looked back at her and blushed "uhh, I… I-I-I" he froze up not knowing how to answer. Why was saying it to her so much harder then saying it to someone else? Ohhh, he didn't know how to deal with something like this.

Maka looked down, unable to keep the disappointment out of her expression "it's alright if you don't, you don't have to do anything if you don't like me that way."

"Oh no, no, I-I do like you it's just…" Crona didn't know how to say this, but then his thoughts were directed to the sharp pain in his back.

"Oh for the love of all that is holy and stupid in this world, this is fucking torture!" Ragnarok grabbed Crona and Maka by the heads "enough of the bullshit you two! Get it over with!" before either could say anything he pushed them together.

Ragnarok amazingly pushed them together in a way that their lips met in a comfortable fashion, and while Maka couldn't help but notice how right it felt, Crona was screaming inside his head imagining how hard the chop he'd be getting for this would be. He was going to get Ragnarok for this, he probably just ruined the boy's friendship with Maka entirely and she was going to hate him now.

Ragnarok let go of them and they slowly backed away, then they quickly averted their eyes from each other "honestly, this took way too long to happen" the Chimera growled sliding back into Crona "you can thank me later" one arm stayed out long enough to give the a quick punch in the head before sliding in with the rest of the Chimera.

Crona was shaking so bad and his face was a deep red as his gaze remained glued to the floor "M-Maka, I-I-I'm sorry, I-I couldn't stop him-"

"Crona" the boy clammed up and winced. He slowly lifted his head and he felt a shot of surprise when he saw her blushing too, but her eyes were somewhat faded, she looked as if she had enjoyed what happened "… can we… can we do that again?" she looked down and rubbed her hands together with some embarrassment "I… I don't know why it's just… that felt right."

Crona's eyes began darting around "I… I-I-" he looked back at her and saw the look in her eye and slowly nodded "… only… o-o-only if you're sure."

Crona saw her smile and nodded "I'm sure" she scooted forward until she was sitting on his lap with her knees to his sides and she wrapped her hands around his neck "are you? I mean do you want to do this?"

Crona slowly nodded again "y-yes please" Maka couldn't help but giggle "w-what? D-did I say something wrong?" he felt the anxiety rising quickly.

But Maka shook her head, cutting it all off "no, you're just being so polite" she leaned forward until their lips were very close "it's just really cute."

She closed her eyes and the distance and the two of them instantly relaxed as their lips touched, and eventually Maka's tongue inched across Crona's bottom lip. At first he didn't understand but then caught on and parted his lips, letting Maka in and the two of them both shivered as each other's flavor flooded into each other's mouth as their tongues met. The two stayed like this for a good minute and a half before they finally broke their kiss and both of them panted, catching their breath, from beginning to end they had both forgotten to breath during the kiss.

"That was… that was really nice" Crona breathed out as Maka rested her chin on his shoulder.

"Yeah, it really did" Maka backed up to look him in the eye with a smile "we should do it again sometime."

Crona blushed but ever so slowly wrapped his arms around her waist "I-is… now alright?"

Maka blushed too but smiled again "that sounds nice" she leaned in again and the two locked in another kiss, and this time they were both screaming in their heads, only this time both were screaming in triumph and happiness.

The two teens almost didn't hear the door open up but it was too late for them to break away before the rather short fifteen year old and a bulky suit of armor stopped halfway in "oh, uhh, sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here" Edward scratched the back of his head uncomfortably "I could have sworn this was the place the Colonel told me to meet with him."

"Oh you're right" Maka said calmly getting off Crona who had gone considerably pale "you must be the Elrics right?" she pushed a wrinkle out of her vest and sat down next to the boy as he kept staring at the two "sorry, we've been waiting in here for a while and decided to pass the time" she wrapped her arms around Crona's right arm and kissed his cheek, snapping him out of the fear and replacing it with embarrassment as she backed up and snuggled against him.

"Oh so you're the ones Hawkeye was talking about? Well that's alright then, Mustang's never been that good with time" Ed smiled but Crona caught a thought from him _"pass the time huh? Yeah I guess sex would do that, but in a public place? These two are pretty gutsy."_

Crona's eyes widened, he was naïve when it came to hints but when it was right out there he got it "what?! I would never ask her to do something like that!" he blurted out and everyone looked at him making him feel even more uncomfortable. He looked down quickly "y-you… you shouldn't think such perverted things about people you just met."

Ed's eyes narrowed "did you… just read my mind?" he looked at Crona more closely as the boy nodded "wait a second… pink hair, black cloak, able to read your mind" his eyes widened "you wouldn't happen to be… the Black Blood Alchemist? Are you?"

Crona frowned at Ed "y-you've heard of me?"

Ed turned to Al and grabbed his brother's hands "Al! Do you know what this means?"

"If the rumors are true about him then yes!" Al answered happily.

"E-excuse me but what are you two talking about?" Crona asked as the brothers jumped up and down with joy.

Ed quickly ran up to Crona which caused the boy to flinch back with fear "are the rumors true? Are you really able to grow people's limb's back?"

"Y… yes" Crona nodded and Ed cried out in triumph "w-w-why are you asking?"

"Hawkeye explained about you, she told me that you were like me" he leaned in and made sure no one was listening "but just to be sure, did you… you know, do the thing?"

"The transmutation?" Crona asked a little sadly and Ed calmed and nodded "yes… s-s-so Hawkeye told me that you lost your arm and leg."

Ed nodded and pulled back the jacket sleeve of his right arm revealing the metal limb "yeah, and Al here lost his entire body" Al walked up to Crona and bowed.

"Hello, it's nice to finally meet you" he said politely, in a small young voice that competed with his large bulky adult-like form.

"L-likewise" Crona then looked down at Ed's arm "s-so you want me to give you your parts back?"

Ed nodded "yeah, we've been trying for years now to get it all back."

Crona looked closely at the arm then began thinking to himself "you know, I-it was always harder doing it to a person with an auto-mail prosthetic already installed" the boy breathed slowly and calmed himself as changed into his more professional state, he was in his element when it came to auto-mail and bio-alchemy "I always had to get the metal out without damaging the nerves the nodes they were connected to, but I eventually got past that problem after the first two times I tested it on bandits, it's no problem now" he looked closer at the arm and frowned, then he began tapping it around different places and asking Ed to let his arm hang limp "huh… I've never seen a model like this before, the materials and weight are a little off from what I've normally worked with."

"Oh yeah, this is a personal job from a friend of mine" Ed smiled as Crona looked up at him with surprise "yeah, she did a good job right?"

"Yes, she did" he smiled down at the arm "I'd love to meet her, if she made something like all on her own then she must know a lot about auto-mail."

"Yeah, Winry's got a huge love for all things auto-mail" Ed pulled his arm back and held it with some affection and then sighed with a smile "man, she's gonna be devastated when she hears I got rid of these" he patted the metal a few times "she put so much work into them."

"Yeah but it'll be worth it, she'll understand" Al was smiling in his mind "well go on Brother, you can go first, I can wait" Al stepped back and pushed Ed forward gently.

"If you're sure" Ed pulled of his jacket so that Crona saw his arm all the way up to shoulder "so how does this work exactly?"

"Just sit down and relax, I can do it from here" Crona answered pulling out something from his cloak.

"What's that?" Ed asked eyeing the simple needle in the boy's hand with confusion.

"Just something that helps me concentrate" Crona poked the needle into the palm of his right hand a few times and let the blood well up.

"What are you doing?" Ed looked at him with concern; those jabs must have hurt like hell.

"Like I said, it helps me concentrate" there was a quick arc of electricity over his hand and the blood in it morphed into a copy of the circle on his shoulder "now please, just relax, there'll be a little bit of stinging from removing the metal, but after that everything will start feeling better" Crona closed his eyes and put his hand on Ed's arm.

The blood circle glowed and purple electricity began arcing over the metal of Ed's arm and the glow illuminated the teen's happiness just as a certain Colonel walked into the room. He looked over the display in front of him and when he got over his surprise he raised an eyebrow "ok, what the hell is happening in here?" he asked walking over to Maka.

"Apparently Crona is going to give Edward his arm back" she explained as the electricity picked up and Crona tightened his eyes in concentration "then he's gonna work with this guy here" she banged her fist on Al's chest-plate playfully, but then looked back with a little bit of confusion when she heard a hollow sound in response. Edward had said that he had lost his body, but there had to be _something_ left inside.

Roy's eyebrows shot up "really?" he looked over to Crona and then smiled "well good for you two" Roy looked up at Al "you've definitely been patient enough, waiting for a chance like this."

"Yeah no thanks to you" Ed growled irritably "if you gave us any free time we may have been able to find this kid soon-"

"I'm sorry but can you please be quiet?" Crona asked as politely as he could "it's really hard to concentrate when people are talking."

"Oh yeah, sorry, shutting up now" Ed said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Crona breathed out again and concentrated on the task at hand. Things seemed to be going well at first, the boy felt the metal slowly breaking down and splitting from the skin, but then after about a minute of this he gritted his teeth "wait… something's wrong" Crona's eyes tightened more as the electricity picked up yet again "there… there shouldn't be this much resistance-" there was a sharp _crack_ and the electricity shot back into him and he screamed out in pain as he was launched away from Ed into a wall where hit with enough force to crack the plaster and he landed face-first.

Maka ran over to him "Crona! Are you alright?"

Al noticed how pale his brother was getting and saw how bad he was trembling and walked over to him "Brother? Brother what's wrong?" he shook him but Ed didn't answer.

_"Ah-ah-ah, nobody likes a rule breaker"_ a wispy voice said as Crona and Ed grabbed their heads at the sudden pain that shot through their bodies _"it's not nice to break the rules of a game you willingly joined"_ it chuckled as Maka and Al kneeled next to the two boys asking what was wrong _"but you know what? I'm going to overlook it this time"_ it chuckled_ "because I like you two, you're the first one's in a long while who have made things fun with what they received, so I'm just going to give you a warning" _the pain suddenly spiked and the two boys screamed_ "unless you want to spend a little quality time behind the door again, I suggest not trying this again, good day boys."_

The pain subsided at an agonizingly slow pace and the two boys slowly picked themselves up with the help of their partners "Crona what was that?" Maka asked helping him over to the couch "are you alright?"

"Yeah" he nodded looking down at his trembling hands, and Maka noticed with concern how the right one was steaming from the severe burns that covered the palm, "y-y-yeah I'm fine" he said as if the burns were a simple scratch.

Ed was the first to calm down, though he was still a tad bit pale "what the hell was that?" he asked looking at his steaming arm, which was glowing a light red with heat "I've only heard that voice once before, why did it show up again?"

"W-we broke the rules" Crona said shakily "y-you lost your arm and leg for the toll, I-it wasn't supposed to be given back, a-and this was a warning" he said as his hand healed "I-I-I can't help you, I-I can't give you your arm and leg back" he gripped his other arm tightly "I-I-I don't wanna go back to the door again, I-I don't wanna go back, not again, not again, not again…"

Maka cupped his cheeks stopping him "Crona don't worry, you're not going back to that place" she smiled at him and he slowly calmed down. What could possibly be in this door he was talking about that had him this scared? She didn't know, but she didn't care either, he was hurting and needed help "there we go; everything's fine now you're alright" she said soothingly hugging him.

Roy looked between the two boys in front of him with worry "are you two going to be okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm okay, that was just freaky is all" Ed answered rubbing his head with his other arm as his right arm cooled, it was still a steaming pink color.

Maka backed up to see him and Crona slowly nodded "y-yeah… I should be okay now, I-I'm just a little shaken up."

"Do you think you two can put up with the briefing or do you want to go home, I'm sure I can come up with a good excuse."

Crona shook his head "no, I-I know my duty" Maka put her hand over his and he smiled at her "I-I'm fine now."

"Yeah, it's gonna take more then some stupid limb stealing ghost thing to keep me out" Ed said with a smile punching his right fist in to his palm.

Roy looked around at the group and then nodded to himself "alright then. If you're positive you're both okay" he pulled out a folder that he had under his arm and tossed it onto the table next to the couch "I'm sure you've already heard about who we're after" he looked over at Ed with an eyebrow raised "some of you may know more about him then others."

"Hey I walked in on him in an alleyway, what was I supposed to do just let him walk?" Ed asked getting defensive.

"No but if you listened to the briefing I gave you earlier you would have known not to go after him yourself, follow him and wait until reinforcements came and we may have been able to hold him, but nooo, you had to go rushing ahead-"

"Yeah-yeah, whatever, I'm sorry alright?" Ed asked with irritation and Crona couldn't help but wonder how he got away with talking to a superior like that.

Roy smirked at him "next time a superior tells you to wait you should listen."

"So you fought him too?" Crona asked.

"Yeah, he's a crafty one I'll give him that…wait a second what do you mean 'too'?" Ed asked looking back at Crona "you went up against this guy?"

Crona nodded "I ran into him about an hour ago, I-I also got hit by one of those steam explosions."

Roy's eyes widened "he boiled you and you survived?" he asked in disbelief.

"I-I was knocked out for a while but my body eventually healed itself" Crona explained and Ed crossed his arms.

"Wow, I heard some stories about things you've survived… hey is it true that you survived getting hit by a truck?"

Crona looked to the side with embarrassment "t-to be fair I wasn't paying attention when I was walking, I-I'm just glad the driver didn't get hurt."

Ragnarok came out chuckling "oh man, but do you remember what happened?" he laughed at the brothers "you should have seen the way that truck crumpled, little Crona here didn't even stumble, it was like that truck was hitting a steel pole" he chuckled more.

"Ragnarok that isn't funny" Crona looked up at the Chimera with a pout but then noticed the stunned look from Ed out of the corner of his eye. Oh no, this wasn't good.

"What. Is. That!" he looked up at Ragnarok with total awe.

"What you never seen a Chimera before small fry?" Ed's look went from awe-struck to angry while Crona flinched. Ragnarok struck again/

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL FRY!" he jumped up and yelled into Ragnarok's face.

"You peewee who else?" Ragnarok asked not the least bit intimidated.

"Ragnarok stop being rude" Crona pleaded "please go back inside."

"Whatever" Ragnarok shrugged, bored "I only wanted to come out to see what the fuck that jolt I felt was, but I can see now that it was nothing" he slid back into Crona's back "see ya shorty."

Ed grabbed onto Crona and spun him around "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT! GET BACK OUT HERE AND SAY IT TO MY FACE YOU STUPID FREAK!" he yelled into Crona's back, shaking the boy in the process.

"Brother calm down" Al pulled an arm-flailing, yelling, Ed off of an uncomfortable Crona who _really_ didn't like the feeling of spit soaked into the back of his clothes "I am so sorry, he's very sensitive about his height."

"Oh I-I-It's fine!" Crona waved his hands "I-I'm sorry about Ragnarok" he apologized right back "it's not his fault, he doesn't mean to be so rude-"

"I don't care if it his fault or not, it still pisses me off" Ed growled under his breath, pouting off to the side.

"If we can please get back to the point" Roy urged as Crona and Al apologized for their 'brothers' behavior. He looked at them as they apologized a few more times and he shook his head, of all the Alchemists he had to stuck in charge of… "I don't know if you've learned it yet" he continued, knowing Maka would repeat later if she needed to "but this man's name is Isaac McDougal, he's a former state alchemist" everyone's ears ~other then Maka's~ pricked up at that and they turned towards Roy.

"Former?" Ed asked with a frown.

"He served in the Ishvalan war" Roy began and Crona tensed as the Colonel walked over to a window and looked out into the night "during the time we had no suspicion that he'd turn traitor, but immediately following the end of the war he turned in his commission and went into hiding, he's been working with the anti-establishment movement ever since" he turned back to the four ~or five counting Ragnarok inside of Crona~ young soldiers "taking him into custody is of top priority, whether it's dead or alive, that's up to him."

Ed's eyes narrowed "no way, I'm not killing anybody for you guys" he turned his head in disgust then looked at Crona "right kid?" Crona was silent "kid?"

"… I'll do what I have to" he answered surprising Ed.

"And that's your choice, your orders are only to help us contain whatever problems he causes" he turned back to the window.

All was silent in the room, but then the silence was shattered when the door slammed open "Roy! How goes?" a dark-haired man in glasses asked enthusiastically as he entered "so! I heard they let to take over catching the Freezer huh? One hell of a nasty assignment, but hey, it could be your chance of getting that promotion to Central right?!" he said to an increasingly annoyed Roy before he noticed the group sitting "oh! It looks like my timing here was perfect! You two are the Elrics right?" he zoomed over to Al and shook his hands enthusiastically "it's an honor to meet one of the most successful young alchemists in the force, you're a real legend around here, I'm Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, a pleasure."

"Oh, I uhh… you want Edward! I'm actually his younger brother Alphonse" Al explained still surprised by the sudden entrance.

"What? You mean it's you?" Hughes asked with surprise looking over at an annoyed Ed "you mean you're the Fullmetal Alchemist?" he asked eyeing him "sorry… I just had no idea that you were so…" Ed had murder in his eyes, just waiting for this man to call him small, but what made Hughes trail off was when he took notice Crona and Maka who were still recovering from the entrance as well "well hello their miss Armstrong!" he said with more enthusiasm and then he noticed she had an arm around Crona's "and who's this?"

"This is Crona Gorgon" Maka explained as Crona gave a shaky wave.

"You mean the Black Blood Alchemist?" Hughes asked with awe "oh wow, I'm a huge fan of yours" he grabbed Crona's hands and shook them vigorously, shaking the boy by extension.

"_Oh_~_Well_~_Thank_~_You_" Crona managed to say through the shaking.

"Hughes" a hand on his shoulder stopped the man from shaking Crona more "what are you doing here? You know what, never mind go home."

Hughes straightened up pushing his eyebrows up with humph "actually… I'm here on official business" everyone raised an eyebrow, this man? Official? "You there. Elrics, I believe you don't have a place to stay, am I right?"

"Yeah…" Ed answered warily.

"Well that means that you're going to have to come with me" Hughes reached into the front of his uniform and whipped something out and the Elrics tensed thinking it was a weapon, but then Hughes smiled a goofy smile and held out the picture of a woman and child "my wife Gracie and my daughter Elicia, we would just love to have you."

"Uhh… sure, why not" Ed breathed out in relief "man, you scared me for a second."

"And what about you two?" Hughes asked turning to Maka and Crona "do you need a place to stay?"

"Oh, no we have a house" Maka answered and Hughes' face seemed to darken.

"You two live together?" he eyed Crona with suspicion.

Crona didn't even have to hear his thoughts to know what he was thinking and he straightened up with some irritation "I would never do anything that could possibly harm Maka, so don't you even dare try thinking about something like that."

Hughes studied Crona with the same suspicion for a few more seconds before nodding with a smile "alright, you pass in my book" he chuckled walking over to Crona and clapping him on the back "you seem like a good kid."

"He is" Maka said squeezing Crona's arm earning a blush from him and Hughes nodded seeing the boy like this, now knowing he wouldn't try anything with an innocent girl.

"Well then Roy, if you're done with this bothersome little meeting I'll be taking the brothers now" Hughes grabbed the two brothers and yanked them towards the door "good day gentlemen, and miss" he nodded at Maka as the brothers struggled at the sudden force.

When the door closed behind them Roy let out an irritable sigh "idiot" he stated, shaking his head before turning to Maka and Crona "well, I suppose the briefing's over thanks to him, so you two are free to leave, we're going to be sending out alchemists to help with the searches tomorrow so go home and rest up."

"Yes sir" Maka nodded along with Crona and the two got up and left the room and walked towards the exit of the building.

Crona's mind was cluttered at that time by all the information he had just taken in, and the shock from that failed transmutation so it had taken quite a while for Crona to notice that Maka was still holding onto him "uhh, M-Maka? Y-you're still holding my arm."

Maka chuckled a little "I know" she rested her head on the top of his arm "couples do this kind of thing."

Crona blushed "c-couples?"

"Yeah, couples" Maka chuckled again and then leaned up and kissed Crona's cheek making him blush deeper "what? You thought we'd just stay friends after that kiss?"

"I… I… I don't know" Crona finally answered blushing deeply, thinking of himself as an idiot "I-I don't really know how this kind of thing works" he said as the pair walked out of Command where they were met by a group of six.

Soul, Liz, Tsubaki, Black Star, Kid and Patty all saw Maka on Crona's arm and they all smiled and grinned "oh my god, is it official?" Liz asked.

Maka smiled at her "I don't know you tell me" Maka turned and kissed Crona right on the lips making all the girls in the group squeal and the guys all grin "what do you think?" she asked breaking the kiss to look back at the others.

"Nice dude" Soul chuckled at Crona who was blushing deeply from the kiss.

"T-thank you" he said smiled down at Maka and then wrapped his arms around her waist surprising everyone a little when he kissed her back.

Crona backed up and Maka looked at him with surprised wonder "wow" was all she said.

Crona saw her expression and then he looked worried "I-I'm sorry, d-did I do something wrong?"

The others all snickered and then broke down into laughter "same old worrywart Crona" Soul chuckled walking over to him and clapping him on the back "even when you just got the girl you still think you're gonna mess it up."

"Don't worry Crona" Maka assured him, giving him a nice peck on the cheek "so far you've done everything right" she tapped him on the nose "now come on guys, let's go back to my place, I feel like celebrating" she wrapped around Crona's arm again and they began leading the group away from Command "and besides, best to live it up now before we go into danger tomorrow right?"

"'Live it up' huh? Interesting choice of words" Soul chuckled, making both Maka and Crona's face flush.

Maka spun around "CHOP!" again a book appeared in Maka's hand, leaving a smoking book-shaped crater in Soul's skull "really Soul? You just had to go and ruin the moment didn't you?" she asked irritably as the others laughed.

"Oh come on Maka you can't blame him can you?" Black Star grinned a goofy grin "I mean come on, a huge star like me knows what a drag virginity is" he put an arm around Tsubaki's waist, and she was blushing deeply from his comment.

"Black Star! You aren't supposed to just blurt things out like that" she groaned.

"And besides, I think you two would have some great kids-" the book in Maka's hand hit him in the face and threw him off Tsubaki and into the ground.

"What is a matter with all of you?" Maka asked blushing furiously as they all snickered "the first time you see us together you think we're a couple, and now that we are a couple you think we're just going to… do it with each other?"

Kid put his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing more "I don't see why that would be a problem" no one knew how but Maka had another big book in her hands ready to throw and Kid held his hands up "hey, I'm just saying is all, you two make a nice pair."

"Oh what a load, I know I helped him out and everything with this flat-chested cow, but I still don't understand why he fell for her" Ragnarok said popping out of Crona's back "pfft, sure, Crona could make her squeal no problem; I just wish he could have fell for someone with some nice tits at least that could give him a good time in exchange."

"Shut up you perverted lizard skin freak" Maka growled.

"I mean, seriously, she probably has no idea how to keep a guy entertained" he went on, crossing his arms.

Crona looked up at the Chimera angrily "Ragnarok-"

"She probably couldn't even give Crona a good rub without screwing things up and-"

"Ragnarok!" Crona yelled up at the Chimera shutting him up "that is enough ok?" he reached up and grabbed Ragnarok by the shoulder, pulling him down so they were face to face as he walked a few steps away from Maka "you are not ruining this for me okay? For once I am really happy, and I'm not going to let you mess it all up with your mouth" he angrily whispered as the blades in his elbows and fingers slid out "got it?"

To say Ragnarok was surprised would be an understatement as he held his hands up "alright, alright, be cool man, I'll stop" he slid back into Crona and the blades slid back as well before the boy turned to see the astonished faces of his friends.

Patty was the one to break the silence "that was awesome!" she laughed walking over to Crona and she patted him on the head repeatedly "you sure showed him!"

"Yeah, nice one dude" Soul chuckled giving Crona another pat on the back.

"T-thank you" Crona gripped his others arm and looked to the side, not really liking being the center of attention again "s-so can we head home yet?"

Maka yet again latched onto Crona's arm "yeah, let's go home, 'honey'" Maka said and everyone chuckled at Crona's blush.

* * *

_**Alright, so this is gonna be another two parter, next chapter is with all the ice walls and such, and I believe you'll all enjoy it very much, especially if you like seeing an angry badass Crona like I do.**_


	8. Shocking Developments

When the group returned to Maka and Crona's home and the Halflings met them at the door to see Maka leaning on Crona the two of them squealed and wrapped the two in giggling hugs, nearly suffocating the two teens with their breasts and earning a dark nosebleed from the black-clad alchemist. The next following half hour for the teens went by nicely, the seven other alchemists and the two half-Chimera all sat down on the two large couches that surrounded the table in the living room, Soul, Liz, Patty, and Kid on one, Maka, Black Star, Tsubaki and Mizune with Blair on her lap on the other one, and they all waited for a meal agreed to be made by Crona.

Everyone sat inside the living room having a good time cracking a few jokes about Maka and Crona's new relationship and every now and then catching a very enticing whiff of some of the foods Crona was making in the kitchen. When he was finished the boy finally came out carrying two covered trays, followed by four of his Terrors, all carrying two trays in each of their hands and they put them down on the table in the living room, putting one tray down in front of each person.

The five all pulled off the ten metal tops and the group all sat up straight and gawked at the spread in front of them as the Terrors slid back into the boy "I hope you all like what I've made" Crona put down his top on a nearby counter and smiled at their awestruck expressions.

"This looks amazing!" Blair was eyeing one tray with a large assortment of homemade sushi with a hungry smile.

"You really were paying attention when you asked about our favorite foods last week" Mizune was practically drooling as she looked down at a fine cheese fondue with assorted meats, and crackers in front of her.

It was then that everyone noticed that each tray was indeed filled with their favorite meals "well go ahead, dig in" Crona urged them.

Each of them picked up some of the food in front of them and the moment the food was in their mouths their eyes widened and began watering. This tasted like pure heaven.

"Holy crap dude, this is awesome!" Soul happily forked another piece of the large chicken cordon bleu and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Seriously, thank you so much!" Liz picked up one of the crab-cakes and took a big bite out of it.

Tsubaki finished one of the sweet rice-balls from her tray and smiled over at Crona "Crona, you never told us that you were a cook" Tsubaki smiled more and nibbled on another "and you're such a good one at that."

"Your god approves!" Black Star grinned before taking a big bite out of one of the many golden brown, breaded, seasoned, mutton legs on his tray.

"Yeah, yummy!" Patty giggled, taking a big bite of one of the large seasoned sausages on her tray.

Kid looked down at his tray as if it were a holy relic "this is simply divine Crona" Kid looked over at Crona with approval before picking up two of the many garlic bread sticks arranged around the chicken dumpling soup bowl in a perfectly symmetrical arrangement with two eights on the sides and one on the top and bottom. He was taking careful steps to keep the symmetrical by taking two breads at a time.

Maka was the only one of the group to look up from her meal, a tray of nice steaming pork buns, and asked the obvious question "hey Crona what about you?" the others looked up from their own meals and finally noticed that Crona didn't have anything.

"Oh I'm fine, I can last a while without food" Crona said with a smile, though inside he was remembering all those lonely days in the dark room with nothing, and then Maka's face hardened.

"No, you get down here" she got up and pointed to her spot on the soft couch "you deserve to eat something after working so hard making all of this."

"But… b-but where will you sit?" he asked not seeing anywhere else for Maka to sit.

She only smiled and pulled him over, sat him down on the couch, and then she sat down on his lap, earning a squeak and blush from the boy "there, no problem" she giggled at his blush and then picked up one of the buns "now eat" she held the bun in front of his mouth and he blushed more when he saw that she meant to feed him.

Kid chuckled when he saw how natural these two looked together "perfect match, no doubt about it" the others all nodded their heads as Crona took a small bite out of the bun.

Blair giggled over at the two "the two of you are just absolutely adorable together."

"Yeah, but let's just hope Maka here doesn't move the wrong way or else Crona might be having a little problem" Soul chuckled before something hit him in the face. It took him a second to register the steaming hot pork-bun before he yelled as it slid off his forehead, leaving a full red circle behind.

The others all laughed as he rolled on the floor gripping his forehead, yelling incoherently before Liz helped him up and kissed the mark "oh stop whining you big baby" she chuckled poking the mark, earning a wince from Soul "if you can take a dozen cuts with barely a flinch I'm pretty sure you can handle a pork-bun."

"Cuts I'm used to, stinging hot, porky pain not so much" he shot back and the others snickered.

And so the night went on, everyone enjoying the wonderful food Crona made, making comments about Crona and Maka's new relationship and every now and then the two fresh lovers would share a kiss, getting the other pairs to grin and do the same with their partner in passion.

…

Later after about an hour of happy, game filled fun Crona abruptly excused himself and went back into the kitchen, and to everyone's audible excitement he immediately came back out with another pair of trays. When he pulled the tops off everyone looked down at the large, sweet looking orange pie and the same sized, white cake, sprinkled with chocolate chips and nuts which lay beneath them.

"I-I didn't know if you all liked pumpkin pie s-so I made cheesecake too after I finished with making dinner" he explained pulling out a knife to cut the two treats.

"Good god, you just keep it up with the surprises don't you?" Soul asked taking a slice of the cheese cake with a toothy grin.

"Yay! Pumpkin's my favorite!" Blair hopped over and tackled Crona, hugging him tightly "how did you know? You never asked about it."

"I-I heard you talking about it once with Mizune, a-a-and I just assumed the others would too" he stammered as Blair's hug tightened "b-but just in case, I-I made the cheese-cake also."

"Blair, let go" Maka said calmly "he's mine" she poked the cat-girl on the forehead, and Blair only grinned back at her before hopping back over to Mizune.

"I know Maka, I wouldn't try taking him" she leaned her head against Mizune chest "I've got Mizu after all" Mizune rubbed the cat's ears, earning a purr as she scratched her behind the ears.

"You're great Crona" Tsubaki smiled at him before taking a bite of the cheesecake "mmm, this is amazing."

"T-thank you, I-I'm glad you all like it" he smiled before taking a piece of the pumpkin pie as well, and he smiled more as he enjoyed the fruits of his labor.

And the night continued like this as the teens all enjoyed a few more pieces of the large cake and pie but eventually the others had to leave, though with Crona's consent they all happily took most of the remaining cake and pie with them.

When the last of the others left Blair stretched across the couch, though thankfully Crona and Maka were on the other one and Blair's head was resting on Mizune's lap, and she yawned "man, that was really fun" she giggled curling her knees up and snuggling against Mizune "you're awesome Crona."

"Yeah seriously, that fondue was delicious" Mizune smiled over to Crona who in turn blushed as Maka nodded and snuggled up against his chest.

"T-thank you, I-I really like cooking for people" he smiled to himself "I-it always feels good when I know I make other people happy."

"Well you certainly did tonight" Mizune smiled before helping Blair up and they both walked over to Crona as Maka turned on his lap.

All at once they kissed him, Maka on the lips, Blair and Mizune on his cheeks, and the resulting blush definitely trumped anything they had seen before "night Crona" the two girls waved in unison and they walked away to their room giggling.

"Today has been just wonderful Crona" Maka rested her forehead against Crona's and smiled "have I told yet you how amazing you are?"

Crona smiled at her with some embarrassment "n-not really."

"Then you're amazing Crona" she gave him a quick kiss and then got up and walked off to her room "well goodnight, I'm going to go get cleaned up now" she stopped halfway through the door and turned back to him smirking "try not to walk in this time" she giggled making Crona blush deeply.

"Y-yes ma'am, goodnight" he said getting one last giggle out of her before she closed the door.

Crona got up and went over to his room to take a shower, and the entire time he was smiling to himself thinking back to the day he had. To think, at the beginning of the day he was fretting over ways to get Maka's affection when he already had it, the thought made his smile all the bigger. And that kiss, not the first one of course, what with it being forced and all, but the second, the recent memory of that wonderful contact with Maka made his heart flutter long after he got into bed and fell asleep.

…

Now if only the next day would be just as happy and carefree as the last, but no, where would the fun be in that?

"… So you all understand your orders?" Roy asked the alchemists following him down the hall after he explained the situation.

"Indeed Roy; and I do say I have never been happier about a situation like this!" Alex boomed before putting a hand on his daughters shoulder "when my daughter and I find this scoundrel we will show him the error of his ways with the magnificence and strength of the Armstrong line!"

Maka smiled up at her father, cracking her knuckles "definitely, he won't know what hit him."

"That's my girl, tough as nails!" Alex chuckled heartily.

"Oh please, none of you stand a chance of finding him before me" Black Star grinned a big goofy grin "I'm Black Star, the big man, all I'll have to do is snap my fingers and that little man'll be in the palm of my hands like the god I am!"

The others couldn't help but chuckle at Black Star, at least all of his ego was good for something "good, the sooner we have this bastard taken care of the better" the group all stopped next to a long black car and Roy was halfway in when he looked back at everyone "I don't think I need to tell you all to be careful, I just don't want to lose some of the best damn recruits I've ever seen a month into their service."

Everyone nodded as he closed the door behind him and then everyone split up into their groups except for Maka, her father, and Crona "hey papa, is it alright if I talk to Crona in private for a sec?" Maka asked her father.

Alex raised an inquisitive eyebrow and looked between the two before his features softened and he chuckled warmly "I don't think that would be a problem, go ahead and take your time" Alex turned on his heel and went off with his chest held high with unnoticeable, but still very present, happy tears streaming down his face _"oh my darling little Maka is in love! Can a father feel any happier then I right now!"_ he was mentally punching in the air with joy.

Maka looked after her father as he left, noticing the rather happy skip in his step "I think he knows Crona" she smiled at his worried look.

"H-h-he does? O-oh no, I-I hope he isn't mad" Crona began shifting around as he thought about what the giant could do to him, but Maka only giggled.

"Don't worry Crona, my papa isn't some old worrywart dad who constantly frets over his daughter's well being" she smiled again and kissed his cheek "besides, I can take care of myself."

Crona gave a small smile before he thought about it and then he quickly hugged her before he could stop himself "please be careful, I-I don't want you getting hurt" Maka recovered from her surprise and smiled softly before hugging him back.

"Again, don't worry about it, I'll be okay, I promise" she backed up and looked into his eyes with a smile "you on the other hand, I'm not so sure" she chuckled some before leaning in and giving him a quick kiss "now you promise me that you'll be careful."

"I-I'll be as careful as I can" the two hugged each other one more time "good luck."

"Oh please Crona, we're alchemists, we don't believe in superstitions" she giggled playfully and then she went to go after her father "how about we just stick with our military sanctioned skills and power?"

Crona laughed some "y-yeah, why not?"

Crona watched Maka as she left to catch up with her father and then he took a calming breath, turned and ran off into the city to look for Isaac, that man had a lot of grief and pain to pay for.

…

It took a few hours before Crona started hearing the guns go off and the death-wails, but by the time he got to the sources he only found frozen and steaming corpses waiting for him. Crona looked down at one of the steaming bodies and couldn't help but grit his teeth from the faint, but still painful burning in his chest; it seemed like even being near things Isaac touched was enough to hurt him.

"Yo Crona! Get your ass in gear!" Ragnarok snapped coming out and hitting Crona in the head "I wanna take this guy down ASAP and get some fuckin food."

"Don't worry Ragnarok, he's not getting away this time" Crona got up taking one last look at the corpse before snapping his head towards the sound of more gunshots.

Crona tore his cloak off and ran towards the sound as fast as he could, feeling the pain shoot higher as closed in and the shots getting louder and louder with each step, but none of it mattered to him, Isaac wasn't getting away this time. When he found the source of the noise he saw that Isaac was surrounded by soldiers, or more specifically their corpses, and all but five men were left huddled in front of the man a few feet away.

"Open fire!" one soldier yelled already raising his rifle, but it didn't do much when the ice-spike hit him in the head.

McDougal unleashed a dozen more spikes at the rest of the men and made quick work of them before chuckling at the havoc he'd caused "stupid grunts, I'm a former state alchemist, and you think you can take me? _Me!_" he yelled laughing with some tint of insanity.

Crona gritted his teeth as the burning in his chest flared and that anger flooded into his mind again "Isaac" he growled and the man turned to see him.

Isaac's eyes widened in shock "what the- how did you… you should be dead! How the hell are you not dead!" he yelled.

"Make it stop" Crona completely ignored the question and held his hand out to the side and a sword formed in it "make the burning stop."

Isaac looked at Crona closer and then his eyes narrowed hatefully "pink-hair, pitch-black clothes, can survive almost anything" he snarled and slammed his hand down and more spikes shot out of the wet ground "you're one of those god damn military dogs too! The fucking Black-Blood alchemist!"

The ice shot out at Crona but the moment it hit his skin it shattered and then Crona charged forward, every part of his mind and body screaming at him to tear this man to shreds. Crona slashed down, narrowly missing a dodging Isaac and he began slashing over and over again but without any of his usual skill, he was just slashing out of blind uncontrollable fury now.

Isaac finally got a shot in, but before his hand even got close Crona's blade disappeared and he grabbed Isaac by the wrist and when he tried with the other hand it met with the same effect "boil me once, shame on me" Crona squeezed down on Isaac's wrists making him wince "boil me twice, shame on _you_!" he pulled Isaac towards him and brought his knee up into his stomach "now make it stop" he threw Isaac up, grabbed him by the foot and slammed him head first back into the concrete "I told you to make the burning stop!" he threw Isaac away where he slammed into the top half of a fountain and even through the mind-numbing pain Crona managed to think _"uh oh"_ as Isaac tumbled into the water.

Isaac looked up smiling darkly and shoved his hand into the water making it shoot out, freeze over and change into a giant pillar heading straight for Crona. Crona barely had enough time to form a sword in his hand and hold it in front of him, but he was still pushed back and smashed into the wall of a building, and he twitched when his own blade bit into his skin, but that pain was dwarfed by the searing pain shooting into him from the ice, looks like Isaac's alchemy was even worse then things he'd touched and being near him.

Isaac looked at the wall with a cruel smirk "well kid, as much as I'd like to keep this up, you're obviously more trouble then you're worth" Isaac began walking away "but don't worry, we'll finish this when I have more time."

Crona tried to get out but he couldn't move at all from behind the pillar of ice and the pain shooting through him was unlike anything he knew how to deal with _"what are you doing?"_ a voice suddenly demanded inside him _"you're just going to let him go?"_

_"Everything hurts"_ Crona said within his mind weakly _"I can't move, the burning hurts so much-"_

"_Oh stop complaining" _the voice groaned with irritation_ "do you think this pain is natural? Why would this pain only happen to you and no one else huh? There's been dozens of survivors and none of them have spoken up about this. Seems awfully convenient doesn't it?_

_"What do you mean?"_

The voice groaned again _"do you really think your mother would leave you without a way to find those monsters?"_ Crona stopped struggling beneath the ice and his eyes widened _"that man there, the one you're letting get away… you've noticed how powerful his alchemy is haven't you? How quickly it happens and the force behind it? Now how is it that his abilities are this quick and strong? The answer is simple… he has a Philosopher Stone" _Crona gritted his teeth in pure anger_ "now where do you think he got such an item? Oh wait, didn't you mother receive one of those stones before she was betrayed and killed?" _it asked somewhat mockingly as Crona began shaking beneath the ice and Isaac twitched and turned towards the pillar, eyeing it with confusion as the formation lightly shook_ "that man… is working with the monsters"_ a large mouth opened up on Crona's sword _"so are you just going to let him get away?"_

"No" Crona growled out loud "no I'm not."

_"Then hurry up, destroy this obstacle and rip that man apart"_ the voice urged as the mouth began screaming, vibrating the pillar as Isaac took a step back _"destroy it and get that man. Destroy it and make him suffer. Destroy it, and prove that you aren't a pathetic, useless little nobody that can't keep a promise" _Crona shoved his blade forward and the scream shot up an octave.

The entire pillar exploded sending shards everywhere and in an instant Crona was in front of the man with his sword hand pulled back for a punch. Isaac only caught sight of the blackness over Crona's fist before it connected with his face and then he was blasted back with a sonic explosion. Crona immediately slapped his hand down on the ground and a stone wall shot up out of the ground behind Isaac where he hit it with enough force to crack it, also knocking all the air out of his lungs. The sword slid back into Crona's hand and he was in front of Isaac again where he kneed forward, hitting him in the stomach again, and then he grabbed him by the neck and slammed him head first into the ground.

Crona got on top of Isaac "now make it stop" he pulled his fist back and punched him in the face "make it stop" he punched him again with the other hand "make it stop!" he began punching Isaac repeatedly "make it stop- make it stop- make it stop- make it stop-make it stop!"

He kept hitting him over and over again but then a certain pair came to the scene and Ed watched Crona wide eyed as he beat Isaac endlessly "Crona! What the hell are you doing?" he yelled and Crona made the mistake of turning to look.

Isaac saw his chance and slammed his hand into Crona's chest "payback time you son of a bitch!" Crona was blasted back in a steam explosion.

"Crona!" Ed clapped his hands together and tried to stop Isaac, but the man grabbed a large shard of ice and it exploded into a cloud of steam "damn it!" Ed scanned the cloud trying to see a sign of Isaac, but he didn't see anything, and then he hit his head remembering "oh crap, Crona!" he ran over to the steaming boy "Crona, oh crap, crap, crap, please tell me you aren't-" Crona's hand shot out and he grabbed Ed by the neck.

Electricity arced over Crona's body and his grip over Ed's neck tightened "you" Crona got up as his body forcefully absorbed the water around him "why did you stop me!" he yelled into Ed's face "you let him get away!"

"Crona… stop… please…" Ed gasped but couldn't finish.

"Crona, stop it! You're hurting him" Al grabbed Crona's arm and suddenly the anger left the boy as his eyes widened.

Crona let go of Ed and his hand recoiled and he stared at him with sheer horror "I… I-I'm sorry… I-I didn't mean to-"

"No it's alright" Ed held up his right hand, his other rubbing his throat coughing a little "I heard… I heard about how you seem to change when you fight… you get all serious and bloodthirsty… and besides, you're right" Ed looked up at the fading cloud angrily "I let that bastard get away."

"N-no it wasn't your fault" Crona said quickly "I-I shouldn't have-"

"Shouldn't have what? Finish beating that guy's ass?" Ed looked down; looking really guilty "I don't even know why I stopped you, he definitely deserves it" he shook his head.

"Come on brother" Al put a hand on Ed's shoulder "let's hurry and go after him, maybe we still have a chance to stop him before he hurts anyone else."

"Yeah, maybe you're right" Ed nodded and looked back at Crona "look, I'm really sorry about this."

"No it's my fault" Crona shook his head and stared at his hand as the last of the skin healed "I just lost control" he shook his head more "I'm the one who should be sorry."

Ed looked at him sadly before sighing "alright, we'll talk about this later and figure out who to blame, but for now we need to find that guy and stop him before he causes anymore damage."

Crona nodded but still looked guilty "you go on ahead, I just… I-I just need to clear my head for a second."

Ed nodded, understanding "go ahead; getting boiled alive probably screws you up a lot" Ed turned to Al and the armor nodded "alright, let's go."

Ragnarok finally came out as the brothers ran off to look for Isaac "damn it Crona! You dumbass! You let that jerk get away again!" he punched Crona in the head "and you trapped me inside again, how the hell do you keep doing that?" he put Crona in a headlock and started giving him a noogie.

"Ow! Ragnarok stop it! I-I don't know how it happens! Please stop it!" Crona whined trying to push Ragnarok off "t-the burning gets worse and worse until I can't control myself! I don't know why it keeps happening and I don't know how to deal with it!"

"Oh yeah, I'm so sure" Ragnarok punched him in the head again and then shook his own "you just hurry your ass up and find this guy alright? I don't care how much it 'hurts'" he did air quotes "just do it."

"Yes sir" Crona said weakly and he walked off to try and find Isaac, though he kept thinking about what his little inner self had told him the entire time.

…

It was late in the afternoon before anyone found anything fresh, more specifically, Ed and Al along with a dozen soldiers found some of their boiled comrades "looks like another steam explosion" Ed commented looking down at the steaming body as the soldiers around him called for medics that had no point being called "come on, this is fresh, so there may be a chance to catch up with him."

Al nodded "right."

And almost comically, the two brothers had no idea that the man they were searching for was only a block away kneeling over his last circle. He was feeling so accomplished that he almost didn't sense the danger and rolled forward narrowly dodging the spike-tipped poles that shot out of wall.

Isaac's eyes narrowed then widened when he recognized the booming laughter "is that you Armstrong!" he called as his eyes narrowed hatefully again.

"Indeed!" a fist smashed through the wall "none other!" the wall exploded in a shower of rock and dust "so tell me Isaac, are you afraid yet?" Alex asked as the dust cleared showing him and Maka standing side by side "you've seen the power of one of the Armstrong line, and now here you are having to face two of our glorious family!"

"Ah shut it!" Isaac slapped his hands down on the ground and a jet of water sliced towards them but they side stepped and the water cut through the poles "you know I've always wanted to chop that ego of yours down to size!" he threw out another jet.

Alex and Maka readied themselves as the jet closed in "yes, but you'll need far more then water to quench my fists!" the two stepped forward and punched the ground simultaneously.

The resulting explosion was able to be seen from almost everywhere in the city and caught the attention of a certain black-clad alchemist a few blocks away. Crona looked into the air and saw a few strangely shaped objects fly out of the smoke, and when he narrowed his eyes he saw they were shaped like Alex's head.

Crona's eyes widened "oh no" he ran towards the explosion with his sword out as fast as he could "no, no, no, please tell me she's okay; please tell me she's okay."

Crona grabbed one of the grenades from his waist and threw it into the air as he ran, and when it exploded the liquid turned into a large, black-feathered, with red plumes on its head, red tipped wings and long red tipped tail-feathers, parrot-like bird with a large bag-like growth on its neck. The Screacher flew ahead of Crona quickly and made it to the scene before anyone else just as Isaac fired off jet after jet of blade-thin water at the Armstrongs, effectively keeping them at bay, and the man grinned darkly when he caught Maka's foot in an ice trap. Isaac was just about to sent out another jet when he caught sight of the bird as it landed on a pipe near the top of the alleyway and the three momentarily stopped to look up at the large creature.

The bird pointed its beak up and opened it and the bag on its neck began inflating with air "what the…" Isaac's eye's narrowed in confusion while Maka's widened with realization.

"Papa! Cover your ears!" she yelled doing just that.

Her father had a second of confusion before his eyes widened as he quickly came to the same conclusion as his daughter and covered his ears just as the Screacher bent forward and screamed. The sound waves hit Isaac and slammed him right into the ground and the pressure kept heightening as the ground beneath Isaac cracked from the weight while Maka took a knee and even Alex gritted his teeth from the intense noise.

"Damn… it" Isaac's hand slowly and painfully inched towards a puddle nearby "just… shut… up… you, fucking… bird!" he yelled as a long ice-spike shot from the ground towards the Screacher.

The bird was barely able to dodge the spike, and it accomplished in stopping its scream and Isaac quickly jumped to his feet as the brothers ran into the alley "there he is!" Ed yelled already clapping his hands together.

"Damn it" Isaac grabbed the second canteen he had around his waist and threw it at the brothers.

The steam both blinded everyone to Isaac's quick escape and caused Al to grab Ed to keep the steam from burning him, but right as Isaac left the alleyway he was instantly met with a fist to the face which launched him away.

Crona looked back into the alley and saw Maka rubbing her cold foot which he took as a wound and his own anger trumped what was caused by the burning "nobody… hurts… Maka" he growled grabbing another grenade, and this one was filled with a large amount of his own blood and had a picture of a cloud with eight needles pointing out from it "nobody!" he threw the grenade at Isaac who caught the grenade in a ball of ice, but he was unable to get away from it as it exploded into a black cloud.

Crona curled his hand in a fist and a storm of needles shot out towards Isaac who began bobbing and weaving around the almost endless barrage until he reached a pipe and created yet another steam-cloud. The Screacher landed on Crona's shoulder and screamed into the cloud blowing it away, but the only thing everyone saw was a rolling manhole cover.

Crona felt the burning fade away as Isaac ran from the scene through the sewers and then he looked back at the alley as the others walked out "Maka, are you alright?" he asked with immediate concern.

Maka nodded and smiled "don't worry; I'm fine" she tapped her foot against the ground "see?"

Crona breathed out with relief as Alex came over and slapped him on the back "fine work young Gorgon!" he chuckled resting his hand on Crona's shoulder "very fine work! That incredible Chimera of yours came just in time to help my daughter."

The Screacher squawked "ragh! Incredible Chimera" it said surprising a few of them.

"It can talk?" Ed asked looking at it curiously.

"N-no, not really, I-I use some parrot in making this kind of Chimera" Crona reached up and the Screacher leaned into his hand as he rubbed its forehead "I-it understands human speech a-and like most parrots is able to copy it."

Ed looked up at the bird with a good amount of awe before he calmed and sighed "man, it's too bad we still weren't able to catch him" he crossed his arms and shook his head "I mean, how does he get past all of that? Major Armstrong here, a super-shrieking bird, and a storm of…" Ed looked at the almost endless dozens of needles jabbing into the ground "whatever the hell all of that is."

"He _was_ part of the Ishvalan war" Alex noted looking over to the broken pipe and manhole cover "those who were part of that war and survived came out incredibly capable men and women ready for almost everything."

Maka just shook her head and smiled "oh well, at least we're all safe" she leaned her head on Crona's shoulder "thanks to this guy of course."

"It's amazing how you can do things like this so easily" Al leaned in to look at the bird "from what I've heard making Chimera is really hard, but you seem to do it with no trouble at all."

Crona gripped his other arm with some embarrassment "I-I've had a lot of practice."

"Well children, we're all healthy and safe thanks to the efforts of young Crona here" Alex patted Crona's shoulder again "and that means that we have no reason to rest" he looked down at Maka and she nodded "come, we need to find Isaac and make him pay for his transgressions."

Ed and the others nodded, but then he looked back at the alley "… you guys go on ahead, me and Al are gonna stay back, I need to check something" the others shrugged and went on without them.

"I never did say thank you for saving Crona" Maka smiled at him and kissed his cheek "thanks."

Crona's eyes began shifting around "M-Maka, h-he's right there" Crona whispered and then Alex chuckled.

"Fear not young Crona, you are fine" Alex patted him on the back "my Maka is usually a great judge of character, and you seem like a perfect gentlemen" Alex suddenly pulled Crona in and leaned so his face was right next to Crona's while they walked "but let me warn you, you do anything to hurt my little girl, and there will be hell to pay."

Crona nodded as quickly and clearly as he could "y-y-yes sir, I-I-I would never do anything to hurt her."

Alex let go and let out another booming laugh "ahhh, I know, I know boy don't worry, I am merely, how you young ones say, 'yanking your chain!'" he chuckled as Maka sighed.

She couldn't help but give her father a sidelong glare "really papa? Poor Crona has enough things to stress about as it is without you adding onto it" she looped her arm under Crona's and held his hand "seriously, all of this is gonna give him a heart attack one of these days."

"And cause him to leave you alone?" Alex backed up with mock surprise "parish the thought, I could never imagine this boy making anyone he cares about miserable."

Maka smiled at that and then rubbed her head against Crona's arm "yeah, he really is great."

"Ohhh god, gag with a spoon!" Ragnarok groaned from within Crona, but everyone still heard him "all these stupid feelings are gonna make me hack up something foul."

"You're already foul enough" Maka snapped looking at Crona's chest "come on out and say something else, see what'll happen."

"Hey, as much as I want to teach you a lesson, this guy-" and arm came out and hit Crona in the head then slid back "-makes it so I can't."

"Now if only he could make you to shut your mouth…" Maka sighed, daydreaming a wonderful dream as her father chuckled more.

…

The day pressed on and eventually slid into night as the three milled around looking for signs of Isaac, but never finding anything. At one time they heard and felt a large explosion and saw a gout of flames and water shoot into the air, and when they ran towards the source they were met halfway in a road by a wet, yet flaming mad Roy yelling for his men to go after Isaac.

"Man, he just always seems to be one step ahead of us doesn't he?" Maka asked looking at Roy as he stormed off dripping wet.

"He's a sly one" Alex agreed as the three walked the opposite way from Roy.

"Yeah, every time we think we have him he slips away and goes off to some other random place."

"I wonder what he's been doing" Crona looked around some "people have seen him all over the city, there has to be a reason that he's been…" Crona suddenly stopped walking feeling something he didn't understand. It felt to him as though every part of him was screaming in pure agony and fear.

The others looked back at him with confusion noting how pale he was getting and how hard he was shaking "Crona? Are you ok?" Maka frowned at him.

Just after asking that the two Armstrongs snapped their attention to the side as a thin pillar of red lightning shot out of a nearby alleyway which was about a block ahead of them. A dozen more pillars instantly followed the first and a moment later the base of the pillars shown a ghostly blue just as Crona fell to his knees.

Maka turned back to him and looked with concern "Crona? Crona what's-" Crona threw his head back and screamed.

This scream was one of total pain but it still did the same thing as most of his screams and the two Armstrongs were barely able to stand as the ground below them vibrated. Maka tried to get closer to him to see what was wrong but Alex turned again when he saw someone fly out of an alley and hit the railing along the river, and when he recognized it as Isaac he ran as best he could to go get him.

Maka was just about to touch Crona when she saw dozens of arcs of that red electricity shoot towards Crona from all directions, and the moment it touched him he stopped screaming, but his pupils shrunk down and his stomach did a complete back-flip. The electricity hit Crona in and endless stream from every direction and Maka's gaze shot over to her father as the river shot into the air and froze over into a large wall. She looked between Crona and her father and then winced and ran to go help the man as he readied himself for the wall, hating herself the entire time.

Even with the searing pain going through Crona's body he was still able to catch Maka's thoughts as she ran _"I'm sorry- I'm sorry- I'm sorry- I'm so sorry Crona"_ she thought as both her and her father punched the wall, throwing it back a few feet, but then a separate wall shot out of it and picked up where it left off.

Crona immediately wanted to tell her that she wasn't doing anything wrong, but the thought was cut short when the pain shot up again and he grabbed his head and began screaming towards the ground. He almost didn't notice his back inflate and Ragnarok coming out gripping the sides of his head, screaming in pain also as the electricity arced over him as the wall got closer and closer.

All over the city, dozens of alchemists did their best to destroy the walls, Kid and the sisters fired cannon shell after cannon shell, Black Star and Tsubaki threw out a storm of explosive Kunai knives, and even Soul was chopping away at the ice, but all of their efforts were met with failure as the walls closed themselves off and continued towards Command.

Crona looked up and saw the ice wall barreling towards him despite everyone's attempts at stopping it, and even saw the brothers up top fighting with Isaac and then suddenly the pain hit him with a new level and his mind went totally blank. Crona's eyes widened before going totally faded when the electricity abruptly stopped arcing into him and Ragnarok bent forward, his arms hanging limp in front of him as Crona picked himself up. Crona held his arm out to the side and a sword formed in his right hand as the wall closed in and then Ragnarok liquefied and covered the blade, enlarging it into a giant claymore that glowed purple around the edges.

Ed and Al were just about to go after Isaac again when they noticed Crona on the ground ahead of them, and they both yelled for him to get away, but all Crona did was raise the sword over his shoulder. Crona slashed his blade to the side and the added part of the sword shot out and hit the wall and Isaac and the brothers were almost unable to keep their footing as the wall came to a stop. Isaac looked down at the wall with confusion, not understanding why it stopped, but then his eyes widened when purple electricity began shooting over it and the ice seemed to blacken.

Ed looked at the rapidly darkening ice and noticed a faint high-pitched noise that was getting louder and clearer as the ice darkened and then his eyes widened "Al?"

"Yeah?" his brother answered shakily.

"The stories we heard about Crona… he sometimes uses sound waves when fighting right?"

"Y-yeah" Al answered even more shakily.

"And how much does water amplify sound waves again?"

If Al had a face it would be falling right now "a lot."

All over the city alchemists and soldiers all backed away from the walls as they blackened and they all heard the same noise as Ed "Al… run" the walls began shaking along with the ground of the city and there was a loud crack was heard throughout the city as something very large shot out of the ice that reached Central Command.

Roy looked up at the giant black form as it took the form of a giant face with large square teeth (remember that screech Alpha explosion Crona used on the Nidhogg when he was fighting Kid? Basically imagine a giant version of that. Yeah) "… good god" he breathed out as the face grew bigger by the second.

Ed took a step back when he saw the face "Al run… run, _run_, _**run**_, _**RUN**_!" Al tackled Ed and wrapped himself around him in a protective hug as they flew off the side of the wall.

Crona looked up at the wall with his head cocked to the side and grinned as the giant face's teeth pocked together and it looked as if it was readying itself for something "… Screech… Alpha" he whispered.

The entire city rang out with a loud crack as the ice cracked, and then the full force of the scream inside was unleashed. The ice walls exploded simultaneously, immediately followed by a shockwave that knocked every civilian, soldier, and alchemist to the ground, sped Ed and Al up and threw them straight _through_ a building, and shot Isaac straight towards Crona as an ear-piercing scream shot out.

Isaac recovered from his shock and held his arms out as he fell and red lightning shot out into the air, hitting chunk after chunk of ice, which then turned them into dozens of spikes and he pointed his arms towards Crona and spikes shot forward. Crona only smiled more as two thin black arms shot out of his back and two more swords formed in them.

"Screech Delta" Crona slashed his blade to the side and the others slashed around him and a tornado of black, glowing screams surrounded him and smashed the spikes to bits. Isaac's eyes widened as the distance between them closed quickly and then Crona's blade glowed and enlarged again "Screech Beta" Crona slashed to the side again and his sword cleaved straight through Isaac's knee caps and another sonic detonation followed it, blasting the man sideways into the wall of a building.

* * *

_**I hope my readers aren't Squeamish, cause it gets a little violent ahead.**_

* * *

Crona walked towards Isaac as he gritted his teeth and tried to get up, but then Crona grabbed him by his hair and held him up as his swords disappeared "what… what the hell are you?"

Crona's smiled only got bigger "I'm the person who's gonna kill you and make the burning stop" he pulled his arm back and punched Isaac in the face, slamming him back into wall "so… you think it's fun messing with people?" he asked kneeing Isaac in the stomach "you think it's fun making other people suffer?" he smashed Isaac's face into the ground "well guess what little one…" Crona crouched down next to Isaac's ear "I do too" a blade formed over Crona's right hand out of his blood and he stabbed down into Isaac's leg making him cry out in pain.

Crona ripped the blade out and kicked Isaac in the side, throwing him away, but then Crona was already in the path with his leg lifted. The moment Isaac was close enough Crona stomped down on his chest, smashing him into the ground and making him cough up blood. Crone snickered insanely, raised his hand and snapped his fingers, making about half a dozen blood drops circle Isaac and impale his arms and legs earning another cry.

Ed and Al who still had bits of plaster on them from digging out of the building came over just as Crona began stomping on Isaac's chest over and over again "Crona… Crona stop it, that's enough, you got him" Crona completely ignored Ed "Crona, stop it" Ed put a hand on Crona's shoulder, but then he doubled over in pain as Crona's fist connected with his gut.

Crona snickered insanely as Ed chocked trying to get air back in his lungs "sorry, but we wanna play" Ed was blasted away with a scream and Al was barely able to catch him as he flew back.

"Brother, are you alright?" Al asked with concern as Crona went back to torturing Isaac "what's wrong with him? Why is he doing this?"

"I don't know Al" Ed rubbed his stomach and winced "but one thing's for sure, that right there… that isn't Crona."

Crona grabbed onto Isaac's arm and stepped on his elbow "you wanna know something little one? You brought all of this on yourself" Crona pressed down and twisted Isaac's arm, and with the sick sound of meat tearing he ripped Isaac's arm off and tossed it away "you kept hurting others, you kept hurting me, you kept burning me, and you're still burning me" Crona smiled and raised his hand up "I think you need to be punished" he snickered as a sword formed in his hand "oh yes, I think you need to be punished severely" he flipped the blade in his hand and stabbed down into what was left of Isaac's torn arm earning another agonized scream as he sadistically and slowly turned the blade, tearing Isaac's flesh "and I think I know the best way to do it" he tore the blade out and then stabbed it into Isaac's chest, making him couch up blood "hey… my blood is black you know" Crona chuckled as the blade liquefied and quickly slid into Isaac, and he coughed up blood again, only it was a much darker color "and now so do you" he smiled sadistically and raised his hand again, getting ready to snap "Bloody Seizure."

Isaac managed one last gurgled scream before his body began writhing and shaking over the floor as long black needles shot in and out of his skin. The needles tore flesh and bone from itself and little bits and pieces of the rebel's body were thrown out until all that was left of Isaac McDougal was a splattered bloody mess over the ground near Central. Crona looked down at the large puddle of black blood that had formed where Isaac had been and a single tiny red stone, no bigger then one of Crona's blood drops slid to the edge and then it broke into a miniscule little cloud of rest dust.

The burning and anger immediately left Crona and he stumbled before falling to his knees, but not before he looked over to Ed and Al, and they both saw the pained sadness inside his eyes "I… I'm sorry" Crona went limp and fell to the ground.

Maka and her father were finally able to pick themselves up and they only managed to get over to the scene just as Crona fell "Crona!" Maka ran over to him and slid to her knees, not even caring about the blood that covered her knees "Crona? Crona are you ok?"

Crona's only answer was silence as a single unnoticeable leftover spark of red lightning jumped over his chest, strangely right over where his heart would be.

* * *

**_Alright, I hope you guys liked this. And while I'm here, I might as well advertise my OC auditions. If any of you are WOW fans and have ideas for characters, then go to my profile, click on the link to the story at the bottom and submit your ideas. I really want to do this story, so if you can please help out._**


	9. Bitterness of the Broken, part 1

_**Alright, before I do anything, I'm just going to tell everyone. I am perverted :)****. No one can say that they aren't, but I'm just going to tell you all that I am more open about my perversion. BUT while I like to keep it tasteful, don't be surprised with how I describe Crona at times, it's just because I believe it would be universally correct for the silent, shy, bullied Crona to be the way I make him after all the crap he's had to go through in his many versions in life, and don't even get me started with how he must be feeling about the gender wars :p. So if any of you have any thoughts about my way of portraying him you are free to voice your opinion, openly or privately. And so now, without further adieu please enjoy.**_

* * *

_Pain. Why did everything hurt Crona? That is all he has ever wanted to know. Everywhere he went, no matter where it was, things have always hurt him. From the moment he could walk there was pain. So much pain… but also so much confusion and fear._

_There were parts from his life before that he couldn't remember, parts that sometimes came to him in his sleep that he always thought were nightmares, but now he wasn't so sure. What he was dreaming right now, what he was suffering through, was one of those 'nightmares.' One of those painful, **painful**, nightmares from before._

_Blood. That has been something that's been a part of his life since the beginning. There was blood during his birth, there was blood during his childhood, there was blood during his everyday life, and there was blood even in his dreams. Sometimes this blood was welcomed and loved, other times it was hated and rejected; it was the latter in this case._

_So much blood. Crona was barely able to see, but he could make out the image and reek of blood everywhere along with the dancing, lights and red electricity arcing over the room as his chest burned as if someone lit a roaring fire in it. His vision was blurry, but his hearing was still good, he could still hear the pained screaming that he soon realized was coming from him own throat as the burning only became worse._

_Loss. Oh yes, loss. Again, something that has been part of his life since the beginning. Before it was quiet, peaceful in the warm dark void that was his mother, but then that peace was lost and replaced by painful life. He had freedom before, at first he lived just like any normal child, loved by his mother everyday, but then she came back from the war and that freedom was lost and replaced by hopeless servitude. He had sanity before, his mind was just like anyone else's, he had dreams, he had hopes, he had happiness, but then the training started. The things he did, the things he saw, soon his sanity was lost as well and replaced by a merciless insanity._

_Those wispy voices were whispering something to him as he screamed, telling him that he had a purpose; that he was made to destroy, but they were also saying cruel, hurtful things. The burning kept getting worse as Crona screamed, and no matter how hard he screamed the pain wouldn't go away, it would only get worse as the voices laughed and said mocking things to him._

"_**Weak"**_

"_**Pathetic"**_

"_**Hopeless"**_

"_**No chance"**_

_The pain shot up again and Crona screamed out in agony, begging everything he knew about the world to make it stop, but the voices kept going, chuckling, snickering and giggling all at once along with the pain._

"_**We can help you get stronger"**_

"_**We can make it so you never have to be afraid again"**_

"_**Do you want that?"**_

"_**We think you do"**_

"_**Do you want that boy?"**_

"_**Do you want to be strong and make the pain go away?"**_

_**"Please"**_ _Crona begged in his mind as he cried out-loud __**"please make it stop; I'll do anything."**_

_The voices chuckled wispy laughs **"then all you have to do in return for this power is destroy the burners"** the burning in Crona's chest shot to new heights and everything went white **"destroy them all and you will be set free."**_

_**Dream End**_

Crona bolted upright and there was a stunned and pained cry which came from him and someone else as his head connected with something. Crona rubbed his throbbing head and opened his eyes to see Maka sitting next to him on a chair rubbing her own sore forehead.

His confusion instantly turned to concern "Maka, are you alright?" he asked quickly reaching out to her, but then he pulled back and gripped his arm as he was met with white-hot needles stabbing throughout his skin.

Maka took her hand away from her head and grabbed his hand smiling "Crona don't worry, I'm okay" she looked him over and then breathed out in relief "oh thank god you're okay" she leaned in and hugged him tightly and thankfully all he felt was caring warmth instead of searing pain at her touch as she wrapped her arms around his torso.

It was now that Crona relized that he was on a hospital bed and then he noticed the thin gown he had on and he blushed, immediately pulling the covers he had against him "M-Maka? W-w-what happened? W-where am I? A-and what happened to my clothes?"

Maka smiled then cupped his cheeks and kissed him, something he appreciated considerably, which also calmed him down before she shook her head and got up and went to the door "I don't know really know what happened to you, all I do know is that you saved Central Command last night, and you're in the medical wing of Command, you were pretty banged up from whatever that stuff did to you" she poked her head out and asked for one of the nurses "no one really has any idea what happened to you, at least nothing more then some of that red lightning shot into you and you started screaming before you went totally berserk then destroyed the ice walls and killed Isaac."

"Isaac's dead?" Crona asked not remembering what he did.

"Yeah, according to Ed and Al you tore him apart until there was nothing left" Maka looked a little queasy when she sat down "I… saw what you did to him when I came to help, at least what was left of him after you did whatever you did."

"Yes and he's no doubt still needing some bed rest after all of the things he did" a woman with bandages rapped around her face and her hair pulled back in a pony-tail, dread-lock, mix, walked into the room in a nurse's outfit

Maka smiled at the woman, eager to drop the dark topic "oh, nurse Nygus, it's good to see you."

"Likewise Maka" Crona couldn't see it but he could hear the smile in Nygus' voice as she turned back to him and put a hand on her hip, shaking her head "I honestly don't know how you managed to survive all that blood loss, but you did, and now you'll need to stay in bed until you're fully recovered."

Crona blinked "oh… well I can already recover now" Crona said confusing Nygus before he held his hand out in front of him "uhh, Maka, can you back up a few feet?"

Maka frowned "why?"

Crona looked to the side with some embarrassment "I can't really… control where I grab elements from, and I don't want to risk taking a chunk out of you."

"Oh… well then" she got up and backed up a few feet rather quickly.

"Excuse me Maka, but what is he doing?" Nygus asked with confusion as electricity arced out into the air and tiny particles of elements began glowing and flowing towards Crona and then into his palm.

Maka smiled as Crona's skin began to go back to its usual color, sure it was still pale, but there's a difference between sick pale and Crona pale "have you heard the stories about him yet Nygus?"

Nygus shrugged "I've heard a few."

"Well he's able to take elements out of the air and transmute them into things he's lost" she looked queasy again remembering something "I remember one time someone hit him with a Molotov, it burned most of the skin and muscle right off his arm" she shivered "I was actually able to see part of the weird metal things he built into the muscles of his arms and legs before he healed himself."

"I've heard stories about blades seeming to come out of his elbows and knees, I never actually thought it was true though" Nygus looked at Crona curiously as he quickly healed "how did he manage to get them into his muscles?"

"He transmuted the machines right into them" Maka explained, and Nygus was legitimately surprised "he had to memorize those machines down to the last nut and screw then he had to brake his arms and legs down one by one then add the parts to them as he remade them" she looked at him sadly "the pain he had to have gone through, melding that metal with his nerves" she shivered again "but at least it gave him some useful weapons, along with a strength boost… at least another strength boost when you take in all the stuff that got put in him and buffed his muscles."

"I also heard about that pain threshold of his" Nygus also looked back at Crona somewhat sadly "god, what he must have been put through to be able to do all these things to himself."

"He's had a rough time" she smiled back at Crona when he finished healing himself "but hopefully me and the others can help him get over it and move on" she walked over and put a hand on Crona's shoulder.

"So you're going to be okay now? Just like that?" Nygus asked eyeing him curiously.

Crona nodded "I should be fine now" he got out of the bed, but then he shivered when the cold air hit his exposed back "b-but can I get my clothes back please?" he pulled the back of his gown together.

Nygus and Maka both giggled at him "well… alright, you seem to look healthy again" Nygus looked Crona over then nodded "but only if you're sure you'll be fine" she went over to a dresser at the back of the room and came back with a part of Crona's usual clothes "I'll give you some privacy, coming Maka?"

Maka smirked "hmmm, no I think I'll stay."

Crona squeaked "w-what! But… b-b-but I can't change in front of you, I-I can't change with someone looking, I-isn't that pervy? I-I don't know how to deal with being pervy."

Maka snickered and then bent forwards gripping her sides as she laughed "I… I was only kidding Crona, gees" she giggled after taking a breath "ahhh, go ahead and get changed, I'll be waiting to take you to Colonel Mustang for the debrief."

Crona pouted "you shouldn't joke like that."

Maka shrugged with a little grin "everyone has their drawbacks; mine is having fun at other people's expense" she gave him a quick kiss on the lips, though she still had time for a quick tongue swipe, making him blush. Oh thank god Maka didn't look down when she backed up "I'll be outside."

"Y-yeah" Maka giggled some more then walked out.

When the door closed Ragnarok suddenly burst out of Crona's back, stretching and groaning as his bones popped "holy shit! What a rush last night was!" he groaned cracking his neck "well kid, looks like I owe you an apology for not believing you about that burning" Ragnarok rolled his shoulder "that crap hurt like hell."

"I-I told you" Crona said and then Ragnarok sneered down at him and put him in a headlock and started giving him a noogie "ow, Ragnarok stop it!"

"Hey, I don't care how much of an ego boost you need, there's no way I'm just gonna let you say 'I told you so' and get away with it!" he gave Crona one last good bop to the noggin before letting go and crossing his arms "… damn it kid, seriously?" he asked when he caught sight of Crona's 'problem' through the cloth, and the boy blushed deeply and pulled on the cloth trying to hide himself "just when I thought you couldn't get any lower" he shook his head and then slid back into Crona's body "freaking getting excited by that flat-chested chick, you're absolutely helpless."

And meanwhile outside when Maka came out she saw the outline of a smirk behind Nygus' bandages and she frowned "what?"

"Oh nothing" the nurse answered with a chuckle before walking off _"wow, just a kiss to get that boy going huh?"_ she thought with a hidden smile before she stopped and thought back _"huh… from what I saw he could probably put most of the men here to shame… well except for Armstrong of course but no one can beat that monster, but still, it's impressive"_ she shook her head and continued walking _"god, either our adults are shrinking or kids are getting bigger every generation."_

* * *

_**(Don't hate.) (`_`)**_

* * *

And so after Crona finished changing, and his little 'issue' had passed he walked out and found Maka leaning on a wall reading a large book, another dictionary no doubt "all done" Crona said making Maka look up.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't hear you walk out" she put the book behind her back the way you would put something in a backpack and when her arm fell back to her side it was empty "alright let's go" she turned, leaving Crona to stare at her empty back, head cocked to the side in utter confusion before he shook himself out of it and caught up with her.

The two walked in silence down the empty hallways for a while before Maka seemed to slow down a bit "something wrong?" Crona asked with a frown.

Maka looked back at him somewhat sadly "I just… I just wanted to apologize for leaving you last night" she looked down "you were hurting and I just left you there."

"Maka, don't worry about it-"

She shook her head "it's just that my papa was in trouble and I had to make a choice."

Crona reached out "Maka you didn't-"

_"Oh would you stop being such a baby?"_ something asked within Crona, and he frowned, it sounded nothing like Ragnarok.

_"Ragnarok?"_ he thought, addressing the Chimera.

_"What?"_ the Chimera asked with boredom.

_"Uhh… nothing"_ he thought with confusion as Maka continued.

"I-I panicked, and I didn't even manage to do anything either so I left you alone for no good reason" she hugged herself and sped up.

_"Honestly boy, can't you see that your girl is suffering?"_ the voice asked with some anger as Crona tried to keep up _"stop being such a little baby and comfort her."_

"I didn't want to leave you, and I ended up making a mistake, a mistake that hurt you-"

Before Crona even realized what he was doing he grabbed Maka's hand "Maka!" he then pulled her over to a wall, then pushed her up against it "stop. talking" he ordered and she looked at him with stunned confusion "you didn't do anything wrong."

"But I just left you-"

"To go help your father to try and help him destroy the ice walls" Crona cut her off "you did the right thing Maka, and I don't blame you for leaving me" he assured her.

"But… Crona, I shouldn't have…" she looked down and shook her head, and Crona didn't know what else to say.

_"Alright then"_ inside Crona's mind the voice sighed _"well, seeing as how __**somebody**__ isn't going to do what needs to be done"_ Crona felt utter confusion as he lost feeling throughout his body.

Maka shook her head again "but I still shouldn't have done it" she looked up at him, guilt written all over her face "I shouldn't have just left you alone there when you were obviously hurt-" Crona suddenly kissed her and her eyes widened with surprise before she relaxed into it.

After a second more Crona backed away "Maka… just stop talking" inside Crona could only watch as whatever the voice was talked with his body and he looked into her eyes and she stared back blushing "you did nothing wrong, so please stop blaming yourself" the voice said before Crona could feel his body again.

_"There, you can thank me later" _it said as Crona began blushing furiously, and then he backed up and turned around quickly and fiddled with his fingers.

"I-I-I'm sorry" he stammered, trying to come up with an excuse "I-I-I just don't know how to deal with my friends blaming themselves."

Maka looked at him, and slowly she smiled "… thank you" Crona turned with a frown "thanks for forgiving me."

Crona looked back down with a shaky, embarrassed smile "w-well you are my… girlfriend" his blush deepened as she smiled "s-so of course I'd forgive you."

Maka's smile grew and then she wrapped her arms around his left arm "then thank you for being such a good boyfriend" she kissed him on the cheek.

"O-of course" he smiled back at her as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

_"Wow, never thought you had it in ya"_ Ragnarok chuckled silently within Crona _"I gotta say, it's weird seeing you confident for once."_

_"Yeah… right…"_ Crona's thoughts trailed off, thinking about that voice.

So now it could take over his body too? He thought about this with a little bit of fear. He didn't know how to deal with not being able to control his body. Killing thugs and terrorists was one thing, but what if whatever this thing was made him hurt Maka-

_"Oh please, if I wanted to hurt that little girl I would have done it long ago"_ the voice- _"and stop referring to me as 'the voice' ok?"_ it asked with irritation _"just call me your Little One."_

_"Um… ok… so what are you exactly?"_ Crona asked and the Little One sighed again.

_"Remember what I told you before? About your mother giving you a way of dealing with the monsters?"_ it asked and then Crona looked down when he caught movement and bit back a surprised yelp when his shadow was staring back at him with blank white eyes, only it was tiny, and had a simple block-like frown _"she saw your confidence problem and put together that you probably wouldn't be able to deal with making tough decisions, so she tried making a second self to help you out, it didn't work though."_

_"Then how are you here?"_

"_I was getting to that"_ the Little One said irritably _"she spent a little bit of time messing with your head, and before you start asking, yes that would be the reason you can't remember certain things, and before you ask again, no I can't tell you about those memories, I only know as much as you do"_ it said cutting Crona off every time he tried to talk _"so yeah, she tried making me, but she lacked that little bit of energy to get me up and running, but that problem was fixed when Isaac boiled you, some of the sealed off energy from his stone leaked into you and fixed that issue"_ the Little One cocked its head to the side and did a strange little shrug_ "basically think of me like a more confident you"_ the Little One straightened up and the corners of its mouth curved up a tiny fraction _"also a more attentive one, your girl has been trying to get your attention for two minutes now"_ it was then that Crona noticed someone saying his name over and over again.

"Crona-_Crona_-_**Crona**_. _**Crona**_!" Maka playfully flicked the boy in the head "earth to Crona, you up there?" she tapped his head a few times and he noticed that they were on a wall next to a door, Mustang's Office.

"Oh, s-sorry" he blushed and she raised an eyebrow when he looked back down at the floor and he frowned when the shadow was gone.

"Wow Crona, you totally zoned out there for a little bit" she chuckled some but when he didn't look up she frowned as well and looked down at the floor "what is it?"

"… Nothing, I guess I just thought I saw something" he shook his head and looked up "so, uhh, are we ready to go in?"

"Yep, we can go in whenever" she went over to the door and opened it up "coming?"

Crona stepped in to follow "yeah, sure thi-" he stopped when he saw Ed and Al sitting in the room at one of the two couches in front of Mustang's desk.

"Hey there kid" Ed waved with a grin, though Crona noticed the bandage on his cheek along with a few scrapes and Crona immediately felt guilty, knowing that they were his fault.

Crona looked down and gripped his arm "Edward, Alphonse… I… I-I'm sorry I hurt you last night-"

"Oh, don't even start with that crap!" Ed groaned towards the ceiling, surprising Crona "look kid, I've seen enough of you to know that what happened last night wasn't your fault" he got up and clapped Crona on the shoulder "you're a good guy, sure you've got a few bugs, but hey, everyone does."

"Yeah, we know that you wouldn't want to hurt us without a reason" Crona could actually hear the friendly smile in Al's voice "you don't hurt innocent people, we know that."

Crona frowned in confusion "you… you mean you aren't mad?"

Ed raised an eyebrow "why would we be mad? You saved the entire city last night, oh so we got a few cuts and bruises, big deal; it's nothing that'll keep us down for the count."

"And besides, you're our friend Crona, friends forgive each other" Al got up and patted Crona's shoulder.

"I… I'm your… friend?" he still never knew how to deal with hearing someone call him that. He was so used to being ignored or called a freak by most people that the prospect of friendship always seemed so… alien to him.

"Yeah, course you are" Ed clapped him on the shoulder again "now how about we all just forgive and forget alright? So you hit me, big deal, even the best of friends get in a scrap every now and then" he fell back into the couch and crossed his leg over his knee with a grin "now sit down already, I want to get this stupid report done ASAP, me and Al got a train to catch."

"First reasonable thing you've said all morning" Roy mumbled with a smirk, just loud enough for Ed to hear earning an irritated, sidelong glare "ok then! If we're all done with the F'n'F then let's get on with it" he intertwined his fingers as Crona and Maka sat down "sooo… what exactly happened last night?"

Crona frowned, thinking and eventually shrugged "I… don't really know" he looked somewhat embarrassed, yet also frustrated "all I remember was that every part of me was burning, then the lightning hit me and the burning got worse, then the ice-walls popped up and the moment I saw Isaac everything went white" he shrugged again "that's all I remember before waking up today."

Roy turned to the others "and you can all vouch for this? He didn't do anything else?"

Ed shrugged "other then destroy the ice walls with this weird scream explosion, rip Isaac apart and give me a good bruise to the gut yeah, that's basically it."

Crona looked over to him with a shaky smile "yeah s-sorry about-"

"We went over this" Ed fixed Crona with a smirk and shook his head "for-get-a-bout-it. Got it?"

Crona smiled again "yeah, got it."

Roy frowned at Crona "actually, about that explosion, any idea what that was all about?"

Crona shrugged again "I don't know, I don't remember any of what happened after I blacked out" he looked at his back "do you remember anything Ragnarok?"

"Nope, I got nothing" the Chimera answered without coming out.

"… Do you think you could do it again?" Roy asked curiously.

"I-I don't really even know what I did" Crona looked down "sorry."

Roy shook his head and sighed "alright look, how many times does everyone have to keep telling you this? You didn't do anything wrong, so stop apologizing for everything."

"I'm sorry-" Roy raised an eyebrow and Crona stopped "sor-" Crona clamped his hands over his mouth and the others couldn't contain themselves from laughing at him as he struggled with this new problem.

"You are just… you are just unbelievable kid" Ed shook his head chuckling after taking a few breaths.

"Sorry-" everyone half groaned, half laughed playfully at the boy and his face burned furiously.

"I swear, you're never going to change" Maka shook her head snickering "you always think you mess up when you do nothing wrong, just relax once in a while, gees."

"Well you are his girlfriend right?" Ed asked with a little smirk "so if he's having stress problems-"

"Brother!" Al snapped down at Ed, a look of horror on his inner self's face.

Ed raised his hands defensively with a grin "what? I was just gonna suggest a 'massage' every once in a while" he chuckled as Maka's face burned, while Crona tried to understand what was wrong with that statement. Sure he'd never had a massage before but he heard that they were relaxing, they sounded nice. So what was wrong with that?

"Why would you say something like that? Stop being a pervert brother" Al whispered furiously and Ed laughed more.

"Pervert huh? Who said I was talking about anything like 'that'? Come on Al, get your head out of the gutter" he laughed all the harder at the irritated growl he got in response.

"Can we please get back on topic?" Roy asked after taking a few breaths "unlike you four I have important business to attend to."

"Well let's just call it a day then" Ed waved off the Colonel, again making Crona wonder how he got away with being so formal with a higher up "you've got the story, the kid here gets shot up with some weird red lightning, goes ballistic, saves Central and kills the guy threatening it, what more do you want?"

"There are protocols that I need to-"

"Oh come on Mustang, just give it a rest!" Ed groaned "you and I both know that you hate those protocols more then I do, and do you see anyone else here to say anything and get you in trouble? No, so just botch the rest of this stupid report and let me and Al get outta here, 'cause we gotta go."

Roy looked at the teen for a few seconds before getting up, walking over to the door, and peeking his head out and looking both ways "alright, you're lucky no one's around" Roy popped back in and sighed "get going before someone sees you, that's a whole load of paper work I don't want to fill out if you do get caught, so hurry it up."

"There you go Roy, ya see? Didn't that feel good?" Ed asked mockingly "okay, come on Al, we got a train to catch" he hopped up but then stopped right as he was taking the first step "… hey Crona, do you have anything going on today?"

"Um, no, apparently Maka told Nygus to write down that I get a couple days off, why?" Crona frowned as Ed grinned.

"The reason we're so anxious to get on this train is that we have a lead about a philosopher stone" Crona tensed.

_"Kill the burners"_ a voice hissed in his mind _"kill them and be set free."_

"And so seeing as how you seem to react with them I'm thinking that it'd be smart to bring you along, make it easier to find" Ed explained, not noticing how Crona paled a little.

_"Go ahead and do it, it sounds like this may be a good way of leading us to the monsters"_ the Little One said _"you may not get a better chance of finding them, and even if you don't, you'll still disrupt whatever their plans for that area is."_

The Little One made a good point "ok" Crona nodded then looked over at Maka "can she come along?"

Maka sighed "unfortunately no, while you get some well needed bed rest to recover from you 'serious injuries'" she air quoted with a little chuckle "I didn't get anything serious and have to help out with fixing up the damage from last night."

Crona slumped "oh, well if the city needs help then-"

"Crona, go ahead and go" Maka put her hand on his shoulder and smiled "I can tell by that anxious look in your eye that you want to help find this stone, so go ahead, I'll be fine until you get back."

"You… you're sure?" Crona asked, just in case.

"I'm sure, now hurry up and get outta here, that train's probably going to be leaving soon" she smiled and pulled him up.

"Alright sweet!" Ed clapped his hands and walked over to the door "well come on boys, let's go find us a philosopher stone!"

Crona turned to Maka while Al went to follow his brother "Maka… thank you" and then, with his own confidence, he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek "you're the best!" he called back as he went to follow the brothers, leaving Maka to rub her cheek with a stunned blush.

…

And so, after Crona bought a last minute ticket and the three boys boarded the train they were on their way to their destination, Lior.

About an hour of travelling later Crona got a little curious about what they were going to be doing "so umm, w-what's the story about this stone Edward?"

Ed rested stretched his arms and groaned "well, apparently there's some priest over in this city we're going to who's been doing 'miracles'."

"Miracles?" Crona frowned.

"Creating things out of nothing and bringing animals back to life, the guy's made some whole freaky religion out of it and is living the high life" he explained and Crona's frown changed to a scowl.

"So he's using this stone to take advantage of people's faith?"

"That's what we think" Ed nodded noting how Crona's faced darkened "hey you ok?"

"Yeah… I just hate manipulative people like this priest" Crona said before he chuckled darkly "good thing I know how to deal with people like that."

"Crona… we're not here to take this priest out, we're just here to see if he really has a stone" Al looked down at the boy with worry in his voice.

"Alright, and when it turns out he does have it then I'm going to enjoy ripping it out of his cold lifeless hands" Crona chuckled more and the two brothers looked at him with worry.

"Crona… Crona listen to me" Ed grabbed Crona's shoulder and the boy's dark insanity calmed down some "promise me ok? Promise me that you won't kill anyone."

Crona pouted and sighed "alright, I won't kill anyone."

_"But that doesn't mean we still can't hurt them"_ the Little One chuckled earning a dark smile from the broken boy.

…

Another hour passed by and the three boys stopped at a small street shop for a nice refreshing drink and meal, though Crona was a few feet away playing with a little, mostly clean looking white-furred kitten. He we thought about Blair and how she was always talking about her love of cats whenever she tagged a long with him and Maka, though every time they passed a pet store she always said it would be too much trouble. He felt like surprising her, she deserved something nice after all of the pain she had to go through with Arachnophobia.

And meanwhile Ed ate a nice cooked meal with some juice and was enjoying himself while the owner of the shop looked at them curiously "so, what? You guys street performers or something?" the owner asked and Ed twitched as his enjoyment was shattered.

"Do we look like street performers to you?" Ed asked with irritation and the owner raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's why I asked."

Ed put his glass down and shook his head "come on Al, let's go."

Al nodded and got up, but his head hit the roof of the awning and the radio perched on top of it fell and shattered "hey! Come on! I didn't mean nothing by it!" the shop keeper yelled.

"Oh calm down, Al?" Ed looked up at the armor and his brother nodded.

"Sure thing" Al took a knee and got to drawing the circle beneath the broken radio, and soon there was a small crowd around him as the boy crossed his hands in the air and pushed down, and after the light faded the radio was as good as new and broadcasting again, earning a gasp from the audience.

"Amazing, it's a miracle! You must have been touched by the great sun god too, just like Father Cornello" the owner gawked up at Al as Ed raised an eyebrow.

"Touched by the what?" Ed asked with a frown.

"Uhh, it's not a miracle, its just alchemy" Al explained and most of the crowd nodded.

"Oh, so you two are alchemists? Yeah I heard of them."

Ed straightened up and looked somewhat smug "well then maybe you've heard of us? We're the Elric brothers."

"The Elrics? You mean the Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric?" the audience looked at the taller of the boys with new found awe as they surrounded Al "oh wow, so you're the young prodigy?"

"We've heard so much about you."

"The stories we've heard are amazing."

"Uhh, no, you don't understand, it's not me" Al waved his hands and everyone frowned.

They all turned at once to see a fuming Ed "you mean it's the little guy?" Ed twitched.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING LITTLE! COME AND SAY THAT TOO MY FACE I DARE YA!" Ed screamed at the people, spitting out fire as they all backed away in fear.

Crona looked up from the cat and couldn't keep himself from chuckling at the terrified expressions of the people. Ed really could be scary when he wanted to be.

Crona then looked back down at the kitten which was currently burying its face into Crona's leg, purring as he gently scratched it behind the ears "yeah, Blair's going to love you, no doubt about it" he said as it pawed his fingers and nipped at them playfully.

And so after Ed gave the citizens one of the most intense scoldings of their lives he put his hands on his hips and looked down at the radio "so what's the deal with this guy on the radio?"

The owner answered shakily while another man silently cried next to him "t-t-that's our leader, Father Cornello."

The brothers listened intently and Crona walked over with the cat in his arms as the people began talking about Cornello "we were lost before he came to town and began teaching us the ways of the Sun God Leeto."

"He grants eternal life to the souls of the faithful."

"He can even resurrect the dead" Crona's eyes narrowed at that last part.

"So this guy's claiming he can bring the dead back to life?" Ed's eyes narrowed as well "now this is something I gotta see."

"Well he's over by the central church right now; he shows us his miracles each day."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ed turned and walked towards the center of the city.

"Wait, don't you need directions?" the owner asked as Al and Crona followed.

"No, just need to follow the cheering" Ed answered hearing a round of cheers and applause.

When the three made it to the source of the cheering the were at the back of a giant crowd of people, all staring up at a large man in priest robes as flowers fell from the sky around them, though Crona wasn't really paying attention to the man, he was mainly focused on the intense burning he felt _from_ looking at the man. They watched as the man, no doubt Father Cornello caught one of the falling flowers, cupped it in his hands, then brought it up to his face where his hands then glowed. When the glow faded there was a giant swirling crystal flower circling around the Father who was then met with another round of cheers from the people.

"So that's it huh?" Ed turned to the others from atop his box "what do you think?"

"There's nothing to think, that's alchemy" Al answered with his arms crossed.

"Yet somehow he's ignoring the law of equivalent exchange" Ed looked back at the father "he should have only been able to change that flower into something of equal mass.

"Yeah, and he's changing organic matter into inorganic matter, he shouldn't be able to do that."

"No, you're both wrong" the brothers turned to Crona who was eyeing the father with more contempt then they ever thought they could see from the boy "he's taking the raw elements out of the air and transmuting them together, I can only do that because of all the things my mother did to me, and since it feels like someone lit a furnace under my skin that means…"

Ed nodded "yeah, no doubt about it" Ed looked closer and his eyes narrowed when he saw the ring on the Father's waving hand "bingo."

…

And so after the crowd had departed enough for the boys to get through to the large building, they went to the main temple of this religion where a certain tan skinned, red-haired girl was kneeling in prayer.

Ed looked around the large room then at the large statue with an eyebrow raised "so this is the almighty Leeto huh?"

Rose turned to see the three boys and got up "oh, hello there, are you interested in learning Leetoism?"

"Nah can't say I am, not really the religious type."

Rose looked down with a small smile "oh, that's too bad, to know god is… well to know hope" she then looked up noticed the bitter look on Crona's face as he looked up at the statue and she frowned "is something wrong?"

"Sorry, it's just I have a hard time believing in something like this religion of yours" he answered, the bitter look in his face never leaving "I just really don't want to believe that there's really some almighty god watching over us."

"Why not?"

"Because, if he's really so powerful and benevolent then why does he allow so much suffering to go on in the world?" Crona asked and her frown deepened "I mean, how good can someone really be if they just sit back and watch as children are tortured day by day and others are forced to watch their loved ones slaughtered in front of them."

Rose's look turned to one of anger "how could you use something like that as an example! That barely ever happens and the people responsible are always caught and punished under the watchful eye of god!"

"But why not just strike down the evil ones on earth before they have a chance to do anything?" Crona asked looking down at Rose, and she saw the anger in his eyes.

"Because… because he wants to give us the choice to lead our own lives, make our own decisions" she shook her head "through him all things are possible, so there are a few bad things that happen, but the good always beats back the evil because he allows it."

Ed looked over at Crona sadly before he plopped down onto one of the benches "so what about bringing the dead back to life? Do you believe that's possible too?"

Rose smiled again "yes."

Ed then looked down and sighed, puling out a small book then he began reading off a list of elements (sorry guys, I'm just too lazy to type all of them out, but you all no doubt know them) Crona knew all too well. Rose stared at Ed blankly as he listed off the elements but she noticed how Crona's free hand, the one not holding the cat against him clenched into a fist, and while he could keep the anger out of his face, his eyes showed that inferno building up inside of him.

Ed closed the book and put it back in his pocket "that list is the complete chemical makeup of the average adult, it's been calculated down to the last microgram, but still, there hasn't been one case of successfully creating human life" he looked down bitterly "and you're telling me that what modern science can't do you can do with prayer?"

"Lift thy voice unto god, and the prayers of the faithful will be answered" Rose quoted from some book probably.

Ed chuckled then "hey, did I forget to mention something about that list I just told you? Yeah, its that a kid could actually go down to the local market and buy all those elements for the spare change in his pocket" he leaned back and looked at the ceiling "turns out humans really are cheap."

"No that… that's blasphemy" Rose took a step back "we… we are all children of god, created in his image."

Ed sighed and looked back at her "you have to understand, alchemists are scientists, we don't believe in impossible theories like creators or gods" he shook his head "no we study the physical laws of this world and learn from them" he chuckled then "you know, it's funny actually, it's funny that through the applications of science, we have actually, well been given the power to play god ourselves."

"So you're putting yourself on the same level as god? That's just pure arrogance" Rose looked somewhat disgusted.

Ed chuckled again "you know, there's an old myth about a hero who flew on wings made of wax" he began and Al looked down at his brother with sadness "he thought that he could touch the sun, but he got to close his wings melted and he came crashing down" the church was silent for a long time before Ed hopped off the bench "I'm really sorry for asking miss, but do you think that your holy Father could help save a few bitter and arrogant souls like ours?"

Rose's look changed to one of understanding and happiness "of course! If anyone can help bring you into the god's light it's the father!" she turned and gestured for them to follow "come with me, I'm sure he'd be happy to see you."

Ed smiled before following and Crona couldn't help but stare at him as he followed. Ed could be a manipulative bastard when he wanted to it seemed.

And so Rose led the three, or four counting Crona's gift for Blair, through the large building and Crona noticed how that burning and that odd anger got worse the closer they got to the center of it. When they finally stopped they were outside a large door guarded by two men in white robes carrying pikes.

A man wearing the same, if not less illustrious, robes as Cornello walked out and greeted them "Brother Cray, hello."

"Hello there Rose" he looked from the girl to the three boys and Crona caught a brief flash of suspicion in the man's mind "who are they?"

"A few lost souls who wish to be led into the caring light of Leeto" Rose answered looking back at the three with a smile "and I felt that no one would be better then the father to help guide them."

"Yeah, just tell him that the Elrics want to come talk" Ed said with a grin.

"Of course, I'll go speak with him now to see if he's not too busy."

Rose bowed "thank you."

Cray then stepped through the door and then quickly made his way to Cornello's office "excuse me father" he poked his head in the door and found the man looking out the window "I'm sorry to bother you sir, but there are three people outside, two of them gave their names as the Elrics and the third seems to be just some little kid."

"Just send them away, I'm far too busy-" he twitched when he replayed what Cray said "wait, you said the Elrics? You're sure that's what they said?"

"Yes sir-"

"Damn!" Cornello snarled "this isn't good; the Fullmetal alchemist has decided to drop in on us."

Cray took a step forward "wait you mean Edward Elric? The one in the armor is him?"

"Dressing the part it seems" Cornello scowled then turned back to Cray.

"But why would a state alchemist be here?" he looked back at the door angrily "surely they couldn't have figured out our plans."

"I don't know, but I want you to go out there and take care of them, it appears this dog's nose is too sharp for his own good."

"Yes Father" Cray bowed and left to go get the three. The Elrics may be some trouble, but that little kid won't be a problem, if he gave them trouble he'd be easy enough to dispose of. Cray stepped out of the doorway and waved the group in "the Father would be happy to see you" he led the four inside and after making sure they couldn't see he waved for the two guards to follow "you'll have to make this quick though, the Father is a busy man as I'm sure you can imagine."

"Oh sure, don't worry, we won't waste any of his time" Ed smiled, not noticing Cray's grin as he reached into his vest.

"Good, then we're in agreement then" he whipped the pistol out right as the door slammed shut behind them and his two guards blocked Ed off with their pikes.

Rose looked between the guards and Cray wide eyed and confused "brother Cray, what are you doing?"

"Rose, listen to me, these two are heathens who have some to ensnare and discredit the father, their evil, this is god's will."

"Brother Cray no-"

"Well like you said, let's make this _quick_!" Ed reached back and threw one of the guards over his shoulder as Al lunged forward and punched Cray in the face, knocking the gun out of his hands and next to Rose's foot.

The second guard turned to go get help but then Crona rose his free hand "bloody lance" a long black lance shot out of his palm and hit the guard in his back, knocking him to the ground as the lance retracted, and Rose was staring at Crona wide eyed the entire time, thinking: what was he?

Ed looked over at the guard and then to Crona angrily "Crona! You promised you wouldn't kill anyone!"

Crona looked back with mock innocence "oh don't worry Ed, he's not dead, I missed everything important" he smiled at the groaning guard "I suppose he could always bleed out but he'll get help I'm sure" he smiled insanely _"but I really hope he doesn't."_ he thought.

Ed was about to snap at him again but he was interrupted by a new voice "what's all of this commotion?"

Ed looked up at the platform above the stairs and saw Father Cornello standing up there "Father Cornello!" Rose smiled up at the man, hoping, knowing that he had an explanation.

"Oh, good, I was wondering when you'd show up" Ed sneered up at the man.

"I'm terribly sorry about my disciples, you'll have to excuse them, they were misled."

"Yeah alright, and let's say for a second that I believed you weren't the one leading them, what then?"

"Tell me boy, have you come to learn the teachings of the great Leeto?"

"Well there are a few things I'm curious about actually" Ed crossed his arms "like how you've been using second rate alchemy to deceive your followers" Rose's gaze shifted to him and she frowned.

"My dear boy I don't know what you mean, what your doubting eyes see as alchemy are the miracles of the sun god Leeto" he cupped his hands and as he pulled them apart a statue formed, arcing with red lightning "there, could mere alchemy make something from nothing."

Rose smiled again knowing the Father was right, but then she turned when Crona chuckled "big deal, I can do that too" Crona held his palm out and a statue of a hand making a vulgar gesture formed in it arcing with purple electricity.

Cornello was surprised by this "what the, how did you-"

"Yeah, I was confused about him too at first" Ed nodded over at Crona then back up at Cornello "but then I heard about all the torture and experiments he was put through as a kid getting turned into an alchemic super-weapon and then it made sense."

Rose's eyes widened at his words _"how good can someone really be if they just sit back and watch as children are tortured day by day…"_ she covered her mouth feeling sick "oh god."

Ed scratched the side of his head in mock thought "and so since he was experimented on for years to get that ability, how could someone like you, someone with no obvious alchemic skill ignore the law of equivalent exchange?"

Cornello recovered from his chock and slammed his hand down on the stone railing "it's like I told you! Because it's not alchemy!"

"But then I started thinking" Ed continued, completely ignoring Cornello "what if you managed to acquire a certain item to amplify your alchemy, one said to make the impossible possible?" the Father tensed "I'm talking about the philosopher stone, that thing in your ring" he smiled then, but this was a sinister angry smile "I've been looking for that" he began advancing towards the stairs.

The Father recovered yet again "the ring is just a ring, I am god's humble servant, it is from him and him alone that I derive my power."

"Still trying to pass that lie huh?" Ed asked grinning darkly "well then, I guess I'll just have to come up there and beat some truth out of ya."

Cornello's eyes narrowed "my, you certainly are an incorrigible little heathen aren't you? Rose dear" he looked down to the scared girl.

"Yes father?" she asked shakily.

"That gun beside you, pick it up please."

"Uh, o-ok" she picked the gun up with unsteady hands "n-now what?"

Cornello grinned "I want you to shoot the Fullmetal alchemist" everyone turned to face Rose.

"But… b-but Father I can't do that" she looked up at the priest with terror.

"I am the chosen emissary of Leeto, my word is the divine word of god himself" he smiled darkly "shoot him Rose, its god's will."

"But… b-b-but I… I-"

"Ok, that's it" Crona's shoulder puffed out and exploded in a shower of black which everyone except Ed and Al thought was his clothes morphing, then formed into one of his terrors "if you aren't going to make the decision then I will" he handed the cat to the Terror then walked over to Rose "go ahead, do it, I dare you" he pulled the barrel of the gun up to his head.

Cornello chuckled "well, aren't you a confident heathen?" he chuckled, believing that Crona thought Rose wouldn't do it "Rose dear, when your fiancé died in that tragic accident last year who was the one who brought you out of the very pits of despair?"

Rose tensed and began shaking "you did Father."

"Yes, and tell me child, what was it I promised you?"

Rose stopped shaking and shoved the gun into the far right of Crona's head "you said if I had faith you'd bring him back!" she yelled pulling the trigger, and Crona didn't even bother hardening his blood. He wanted to freak everyone out with what he was about to do.

Crona's head snapped back as the bullet took a small chunk of his forehead off, splattering black blood all over the stone behind him and he was thrown down onto his back by the force. Rose looked down at him as a small puddle of blood formed under his head and she dropped the pistol, grabbed the sides of her head and screamed when she was hit with the realization of what she just did while Ed and Al both stared at the boy wide eyed.

"Crona?" Ed asked dumbly as Cornello laughed.

Cornello smiled down at Rose "good my child, Lord Leeto is pleased, now pick the pistol up and shoot the others-" he stopped dead when he heard the laugh.

Rose looked around when she heard small laughter which steadily became more frequent until it was loud and insane, and Rose's eyes widened with pure terror when she saw Crona shaking on the ground, the laughs coming from him. He laughed harder and harder as he rose like a puppet being pulled up by the string, his arms hanging limp behind him as he rose up on his legs, and then his upper body fell forward, with his arms hanging limp in front of him now.

Crona slowly looked up and Rose was shaking with pure terror when she saw the inside of his head slowly knit itself back together and heal as he smiled at her _"… that wasn't very nice Rose"_ he chuckled out slowly.

_**AHAHAHAHAHAH, god I need to stop doing this to you guys, but I just. Can't. Help myself! It's so fun! But don't worry everyone, the second part of this will be up soon (If I don't get killed by the hate-mailers that will be breaking down the doors of my inbox that is) TROLOLOLOLOL**_


	10. Bitterness of the Broken, part 2

Crona laughed. Crona actually laughed as the side of his head painfully reconstructed itself. Ed and Al both watched this, and Ed couldn't help but see that it was like when his body was being broken down inside the door, only in reverse. Instead of electricity hitting Crona's body and taking it apart piece by piece, it was putting it back together like someone forming something with alchemy.

"That really, really hurt Rose" Crona laughed rubbing his now fully healed head "just a little more to the right and you probably would have taken the top side of my head off" he laughed again and the blades in his arms and knees came out "lucky me huh?"

"How?" Rose took a terrified step back "how did you-"

"It's simple really, I'm strong, you're all weak, pretty much sums it up" he chuckled eyeing some blood that had leaked down his cheek from his now closed wound "oh yeah, do you see this Rose? My blood is black" he licked his cheek catching some of the blood.

Cornello stared down at the boy and then snarled "do you see Rose? This boy is obviously possessed by one of hell's many demons!"

Crona looked up at the man and then stared down as he began shaking, but it wasn't with anger. Soon he was gripping his sides laughing at Cornello's statement as Rose looked at him wide eyed.

"Tell me Rose, do you still believe what this man says?" Crona asked giving Rose a sidelong stare "do you still have faith in your holy father's words?"

"Of… of course" she still backed away another step "you… y-you obviously aren't human, w-what else could you be but a demon?"

Crona snorted and then laughed all the harder "really?" he chuckled staring at her with disbelief before looking down "oh Rose, I'm sorry" everyone frowned "I am really sorry Rose, but how stupid are you!" he yelled suddenly filled with total rage "are you really so weak and pathetic that you cling to the words of a man who has obviously been lying to you!"

Cornello slowly backed up to a lever with an arrow going up and then pushed it up "enough of your words devil spawn; evil of your kind must be purged!"

A large wall opened up and four sets of red eyes glowed from the darkness behind it and then one of the large creatures ran out towards Crona "so this is what you do with a philosopher stone in your free time?" Ed asked eyeing the giant lion chimera with the hind-legs of a bird and the tail of some kind of lizard "that's just twisted" he looked back at Crona one last time and noticed how he kept on laughing.

"Oooh, big kitty, does kitty wanna play?" he asked snickering at the chimera in front of him. Yeah, this was definitely Crona's darkside right now "well then come on kitty-kitty, let's play" he flicked his finger towards himself, taunting the creature.

The lion roared and charged then raked its claws down to tear Crona apart, but then Crona raised his arm and the claws stopped dead, and then Crona whistled "wow, this is one well made chimera" he snickered before eyeing the beast in front of him sinisterly "wanna see mine?" the lion only got one second of confusion before the scream blasted it away from Crona and then his back puffed out and Ragnarok burst out "tell me Rose, look at me, what do you see?" Crona asked looking back at Rose as Ragnarok's tongue flicked out and swirled around him.

"You… you look like a monster" she answered and Crona laughed again.

"Exactly" he pointed at her and began laughing "exactly! And tell me Rose, do you think that I chose to be like this?" he chuckled and then ran his hand through his hair, eyes wide with insanity "how old do you think I am Rose?" he suddenly asked.

Rose frowned besides her fear "I… I-I don't know, t-thirteen?"

"Yes that's exactly right, I am thirteen years old" in a split second Crona was suddenly in front of Rose staring her in the face "and so tell me Rose, where has your benevolent god been in the thirteen years of hell I've had to live?" Ragnarok bent down and Rose looked up into his eyes fearfully.

Ragnarok chuckled down at her "oh don't worry girly, I'm not gonna kill you, we demons like to play with our food first" he laughed as her eyes widened more.

"So Rose, where was he when I prayed huh?" Rose looked back down to see the anger in Crona's eyes "where was he when I begged every night for a tiny sliver of peace after every agonizing injection I got?" Rose didn't answer; all she did in response was tremble "the answer Rose? Nowhere. God was nowhere, because he. Doesn't. Ex-ist" he slammed his elbow back and the blade in his arm easily pierced the Chimera's skull as it tried sneaking up on him "honestly Rose, faith? Do you actually believe that hoping is how you get what you want in this world?" he asked jerking his arm forward and out of the chimera's brain as he eyed the girl with more disgust then she had ever seen before "no, it isn't. Let me tell you Rose, that those are nothing but empty, meaningless words the weak use, do you want to know the true way to get what you want in the world?" he asked pointing down to the dead chimera "pain and death, those are how you get what you want."

"No, that isn't true-"

"Oh really?" he cut her off smiling darkly again "when you want to get information out of someone what do you Rose?" his smile grew "do you hope that they'll give you the information? Do you have faith that they'll just give it to you? No. you hurt them, you torture them until they give you what you want" he laughed again as Rose backed away from him "when you want to get the position of a higher up, what do you do Rose? Do you hope that they'll meet with an unfortunate accident? Do you have faith that they'll just retire for you to take their place? No, you get rid of them, if you really want to succeed, you kill them, along with all the other competition" he pointed at her again "and that, is exactly what I was made for, trained for, tortured for" he started laughing again "hey… do you wanna know how old I was when I killed my first man?"

"W… what?"

"My age. Do you want to know how old this 'child of god' was when he killed someone for the first time?" he smiled when Rose didn't answer "seven… I was seven years old when I wrapped my hands around a man's throat and snapped his neck like a twig" he laughed again and hugged himself "and you know what Rose? It was because I wanted something and I got it from killing that man, do you want to know what it was? Food. It was food that motivated me to kill that man" he laughed again though Rose watched as tears welled in his eyes "I didn't even want to do it at first too, isn't that something?"

"I don't care about your worthless life you little heathen!" Cornello snapped his fingers and the other sets of eyes moved forward to reveal the identical chimeras "if you think I'm just going to let you live after what you've done, then you have another thing coming!" he snapped his fingers again and two of the chimera charged towards Ed and Al and the third charged Crona.

Crona didn't even move as the creature charged his exposed back "you see Rose, when I didn't do something I was told to do, I got locked inside a dark room for a long time" Crona caught the chimera's paw as it was descending without even turning "and I stayed in that room day after day, starving, crying, and most of all" he squeezed down on the chimera's wrist and with the terrible sound of bones breaking the chimera's arm imploded at the wrist "praying Rose. I begged for it to stop, I begged, and pleaded, and cried to every god I learned about and you want to know what happened Rose?" he asked as Ragnarok grabbed the chimera's head and then tore it off in a spray of blood and torn flesh "nothing Rose. Nothing happened at all. My prayers went unanswered, and this went on day after day, week after week, year after year, until one day, I just gave up praying. I gave up on hope, because hope brings nothing but disappointment" he laughed, and laughed, and laughed harder even as the tears streamed down his face out of his wide eyes.

And meanwhile during Crona's bitter explanation Ed and Al had their hands full with their chimeras. Ed's coat covering his auto-mail arm and his pant's leg covering his other prosthetic were both torn away, and Al's head managed to get knocked off before their chimera turned towards a load roar of pain coming from their dying brother. Ed and Al took advantage of this distraction and with a quick auto-mail kick to the chin and an armored fist to the gut, both their chimera were down, but not before Cornello caught sight of Ed's arm and leg, and Al's empty armor.

Cornello's eyes narrowed down at Crona "a boy with black blood" he turned to Ed "a boy who lost his arm and leg" then he turned to Al "with a brother who lost his whole body, I get it now, it all makes sense" he pointed down at the boys "you see Rose? These three committed the ultimate taboo! Something even the most novice alchemist knows is forbidden! Human transmutation" he grinned down at them smugly "in their arrogance they all attempted to bring someone dead back to life."

Rose's eyes widened and she covered her mouth when she thought back to what Ed said about that myth "oh no."

Ed's eyes narrowed up at Cornello "why don't you come down here and we'll show you which one of us is the novice!"

Cornello grinned again and then rested the end of his cane on his palm "no, I think I'll stay up here, but seeing as how you all wish to play god…" red lightning arced over his cane as he trailed his hand down and it changed into a large Gatling-gun "how about I send you to meet him instead!" he yelled as the barrel began spinning.

"Al, Crona, get behind me!" Ed clapped his hands and slapped them into the ground and a wall formed out of the ground, but Crona didn't move.

Cornello shifted his aim from Ed's wall to Crona and Rose managed to regain feeling in her legs and crawl out of the way as the bullets tore into Crona and anything behind him. Ed, Al, and Rose all watched as chunks of Crona were blown away in showers of black blood and the ground around him was blown into a cloud of dust until finally after about thirty seconds of non-stop fire Cornello stopped to let the dust clear.

"There, one less worthless heathen to deal with" Cornello laughed before the dust fully cleared "and now it's time to take care of you other annoy-" he froze when he caught sight of something in the dust.

A laugh slowly cut through the silence "sorry fat man" Crona laughed as the dust fully cleared and everyone in the room nearly gagged at the sight.

Crona's right arm and left leg were blown completely off and his left arm and leg were full of jagged holes while his stomach and chest were blown open and little bloody bits of his flesh fell away. Ed nearly threw up when he could see a part Crona's heart beating behind a small flap of skin while Rose fell to her knees and dry-heaved after seeing the inside of Crona's head from the holes in his cheek and forehead.

"I don't die so easily" Crona grinned as purple lightning arced over his skin, though he frowned down at his chest when he saw a strange glow before it was lost in the light from his body as it slowly began reconstructing itself.

Ed recovered from his sickened shock and turned to him brother "Al, get Rose out of here, now!"

"On it!" Al charged out from cover and grabbed Rose as Cornello snapped his aim towards him "brother, I need an exit!"

"Hang on!" Ed clapped his hands as he ran out from behind the wall he made and then slapped them onto one of the walls of the room "Crona, keep them busy for us! And don't kill anyone!" he yelled back.

Crona watched the brothers as they ran away with Rose and then grinned up at Cornello "aww, he takes the fun out of everything" he held his hand out and Ragnarok liquefied and shot into his hand, forming a sword "oh well, I guess I can still have fun breaking a few bones" he laughed and raised the now glowing blade over his shoulder as a large group of Cornello's men stormed into the room "screech alpha."

And as Ed and Al ran out of the church leaving a few unconscious bodies behind them they both looked back when part of the church was leveled in another of those black glowing screech explosions "huh, looks like Crona's bad side is the only one that can use those screams."

"Brother, did you see what he did back there?" Al asked as they hid behind a corner to hide from a group of Cornello's men "his… he was torn apart and he just healed himself, how is that possible?"

"I don't know Al, all I know is that he just survived something that would kill anyone else twice over, and he just leveled a chunk of an entire building with a scream" Ed shook his head and peaked out to make sure the coast was clear, then caught sight of something "hey Al, you see that tower up there, the one with the bell?" Al nodded "get Rose up there" he gestured to the now unconscious girl, turns out all of this was a little too much and she passed out "and then maybe we can use that bell to expose Cornello for what he really is."

Al was confused at first "what do you mean? How would we use the bell to-… ohhh, right! Brother you're a genius!"

Ed smiled smugly "yeah, I'm awesome, I know-" he and Al both stumbled when the ground beneath them shook from another of Crona's screams "holy crap, we can still feel the shockwaves all the way out here" Ed looked back at the church after recovering "just how strong is this kid?"

"Obviously pretty strong" Al looked back at the church with worry "do you think he's going to kill anyone?"

Ed shook his head "no, no, I'm positive he won't."

"Why's that?"

"He promised, and if what I heard about that kid is true, he keeps his promises" he peaked out one last time and then stared walking back to the church.

"Where are you going?" Al called after him.

"Back to find Cornello, somebody has to get that fat guy talking!" Ed called back.

Al watched him as he left and then peaked out to see if he could leave, then quickly ran towards the tower. After weaving through street after street, filled with a lot of Cornello's men, Al finally made it to the tower and set Rose down as he got to work assembling the machine his brother needed.

About several minutes later Rose finally woke back up to see that she was in the tower of the church, and then she saw Al doing something with the bell "Alphonse?"

Al turned and relaxed when he saw the speaker "oh Rose, good you're up."

"What… what happened?"

"You fainted after Cornello started shooting at me while I was carrying you" Al looked back down to his work "so Rose, do you still trust him? Even after he just opened fire with you in the way?"

"Well that… that's because…" Rose looked down trying to come up with something, anything but then she looked at him again "what he said back there, about all of you, it was true wasn't it?"

Al glanced back at her and then sighed "we aren't evil you know, me, my brother and Crona; all we wanted was to see our mothers again" he put down the part he was working on and looked back at her "but we failed, people don't come back from the dead Rose, we learned that the hard way."

"But… but just because you failed doesn't mean that-" she was cut off by the entire tower shaking and a large black explosion happening off in town "what is he?" she suddenly demanded "Crona, what is he?"

"He's someone who suffered more then both me and my brother combined" he shook his head "Rose you have to understand, he doesn't mean to be the way he is, I mean you saw how he was crying, you saw how hurt he was" he looked down sadly "he had to watch his mother die Rose, ours at least died peacefully in her sleep, but he had to watch his mother get killed right in front of him."

"So all that stuff he said before back in the church, about why he doesn't believe-"

"Was all based off experience" Al finished with a sigh "he's really a good person rose, you just have to give him a chance, he only get's like this around people that have stones, when he's normal, he's always so timid and afraid of messing up, I don't understand why he gets like this, the stones seem to do something to him, but it's not really him."

Rose was silent for a long time as Al went back to work "so that thing Cornello had in his ring was one of these stones?" she eventually asked and Al nodded "so why is it that you two are looking for it?"

"We're trying to get our bodies back to normal, at least my brother and I are, Crona just seems to want to find the owners and kill them, apparently the stones are linked with the people who killed his mother" he finished creating the speaker and hefted it up on his shoulder.

And then back inside the church Crona slashed away at the men around him, throwing out scream after scream, slamming them into walls, the ceiling, the floor, everywhere with enough force to crack bones "this is fun isn't it little ones? Aren't you having fun?" he laughed as the men all groaned in pain.

He was just about to throw out another scream when he heard the high pitched sound of a speaker coming online "… there you are you little bastard" Crona recognized this voice as Cornello's "it's about time I found you, now just sit still so I can-"

"Can we just talk for a second?" a second voice that he recognized as Ed's came on "look, all I want is some solid information and I'll be on my way… unless we want the military getting involved."

All was silent for a while until Crona heard a door closing "alright, ask your questions."

"Ok, first off, why is it that you've been using a philosopher stone to do all these phony miracles here?"

"Because with each miracle I bring new followers to the order, followers who would throw down their lives on my word" Cornello chuckled darkly "I'm building an army you see, one filled with holy warriors unafraid to die, and soon, very soon I will be able to unleash this mindless horde upon the world and reek havoc across the country!" Cornello began laughing "who knows, maybe I'll even carve out a slice for you!" Ed started laughing then and Cornello stopped "wait, why are you laughing?"

"You really are stupid aren't you?" Ed asked with a laugh.

Cornello was quiet again and Crona heard him as he stumbled for words before he erupted "HOW LONG HAS THAT BEEN ON!"

"The whole time."

Crona couldn't keep himself from laughing as Cornello yelled at Ed but then he shrugged and walked towards the church, time to go shut the fat man up once and for all. He heard explosions and the floor shook beneath him as he closed in and when he walked inside he saw Ed standing in front of a gigantic version of Cornello with a strange metallic right arm he soon recognized as a rebound effect.

Cornello saw Crona walk in and then he snarled **"you, you little pests have ruined everything!"** he yelled in a warped voice **"I will not stand for this insolence!"** he charged towards Crona making the earth shake with every footfall **"you cannot beat me! I am the chosen emissary of the sun god Leeto, my word is the holy word of god, my fist is the righteous fist of judgment!" **he slammed his good fist down but right as he reached Crona's extended hand his fist stopped.

"Judge this" Cornello's hand was blasted back with a scream and he stumbled backwards as Ragnarok liquefied and covered Crona's entire arm "you know, mama never liked liars fat man" the black blood took on the shape of a cannon with a large mouth on the end "I think you need to be punished" he leveled the newly formed cannon and the smiled darkly "Screech Epsilon!" the mouth opened up and Cornello's eyes widened before the cannon-shell shaped scream hit him in the chest and blasted him right into the statue behind him, also shattering every window in the church and surrounding buildings.

Ed watched as Cornello shrunk back down to size and recovered from his shock before running up to the priest and head-butting him "now sit down and shut up!" Cornello fell back gripping his bleeding nose as Crona walked up next to Ed and the man began crying "now, give. Me. The. Stone" he ordered right as the gem went from glowing red to a darker shade and then fell off the ring. Ed eyed the stone with shock and confusion as it hit the ground and then shattered into dust "what… it just… I don't understand, it's supposed to be perfect material!" he looked back up at Cornello with anger "what happened! Why did that just happen!"

"I-I-I don't know, I don't know anything about it!" Cornello backed away as Crona walked closer.

"That stone, who gave it to you?" he suddenly asked as Ragnarok changed back into a sword.

"Wha-"

"Who gave you the stone?" Crona leveled the blade with the man's neck.

"I-I don't know that either, s-she was always in a dark room whenever we met, I-I could never see her face" he cried more as Crona pressed the blade up against his skin "please! That's all I know! I don't know who gave me the stone, all I know is that it was a woman!" be sobbed.

"… Well then, I guess I have no more use for you" Crona raised the blade over his shoulder.

Cornello's eyes went wide "what! B-but I told everything I-"

"You also tried to kill us, multiple times" Crona smiled down at the man darkly "mama was always quick to dash out punishment, I guess that rubbed off on me."

But right as he slashed down, Ed grabbed his arm "Crona. Stop" he ordered and Crona looked at him with a sidelong stare "the stone is gone, calm down, this isn't you."

Crona stared at him before his eyes widened as the burning in his chest finally calmed and the anger faded away and he stumbled as his legs shook beneath him "E-Ed? What… what happen-" Crona suddenly gagged, gripping his chest and then he fell to his knees coughing up black blood.

"Crona! Are you ok?" Ed kneeled down next to him as Cornello scrambled and then ran away in fear "Crona? Crona!" Ed yelled out the boy's name as he fell into the puddle of blood he made and lost consciousness.

…

Ed, and Al sat at the two chairs outside Crona's hospital room back in Central, apparently all of that healing sapped most of his strength and knocked him out. The two remained there for a while before Stein walked out just as Maka ran around the corner to their room "is Crona ok? I came as soon as I heard" she asked frantically.

"Don't worry, he just needs rest, his body was fully healed, it's just his mind that took the toll of what happened" he took out a cigarette and leaned on the wall "it's amazing he survived at all, the wounds you described would have killed a normal person" he chuckled then "as if anyone could say Crona was normal" he smiled then with a small tint of insanity blocked by the shine of his glasses "oh what I wouldn't give to dissect that special little child."

Ed was quiet for a while before looking up at Stein "hey Stein, you were in charge of the kid's psych report right?" Stein nodded with an eyebrow raised "did you… find anything off when you checked him out back then? Anything to explain why the hell he changes from sweet and innocent to cold and murderous in a second?"

Stein sighed and then sat down on the bench across from the brothers "well… he's got a small case of multiple personality disorder" the other's all frowned.

"You mean like he's not the only one home?" Maka asked tapping her head.

"Exactly" Stein nodded taking a drag of his cigarette "ironically his usual self, his timid and caring side is the dominant or true self right now" he blew out a smoke cloud in the strange shape of a skull, making everyone try to understand how he was always able to do that "and then there's his second self, that cruel, insane side that seems to come out when he fights."

"So he's always been like this?" Al asked looking at the door to Crona's room.

"No, from what I could tell, this was a product of the training he went through" he sighed breathing out smoke again "it's impossible to go through all that pain without some psychological damage" Stein noticed Ed was still frowning and raised an eyebrow "is there something else?"

"Well… on the train ride to Lior… Crona was talking to himself" Ed answered and Stein and Maka frowned.

"You mean he was talking to Ragnarok?" Maka asked.

"No, he never said the thing's name… no, he was saying something about a Little One, that's all I caught, he seemed really quiet about it."

Stein took another drag and his eyes narrowed at the door "I never saw anything like that."

"I haven't either" Maka shook her head looking down in thought, but then she looked up "wait… wait, yeah, I heard him, talking in his sleep this morning before you all left, he didn't say anything about Ragnarok, or this Little One, but he was saying something about burners" she shook her head "he never did it before then."

"So this is something new then" Stein looked down "perhaps that lightning from last night did more to him then we all thought" he glanced at the door before looking back at Maka "your family's mansion is nearby correct?" Maka nodded "call your father, have him come and transport Crona there."

Maka frowned "why?"

"Well seeing as how you two are in physical relationship and all, I would think that you would want to give him some relief when he woke up" Maka's face instantly burned.

"What!" she yelled "where did you get an idea like that!"

Stein pointed over to Ed "well he caught you two doing something in Mustang's office."

Maka slowly turned towards a terrified Ed with a shaky smile on his face "uhh, n-now Maka, let's be calm here" he raised his hands as Maka pulled out her book "wait… wait-wait-wait! No-"

"CHOP!" let's just say that a certain wall was going to need the human sized hole in it repaired.

And while everyone but Maka laughed as Ed tried to pick himself up they were all unaware as to what was happening inside Crona's room.

_"You did well today boy."_

"_One more stone has been destroyed."_

"_You're one step closer to being set free."_

Crona rolled around in his sleep as the voices whispered to him not once noticing the small amount of red electricity arcing over his chest and the small laugh of a certain shadow beneath him.

* * *

**_Alright, next chapter is the last one that changes one of the episodes for a while, after the next chapter the story will be taking place in the north. So you all know who Crona's going to be meeting._**


	11. Daddy Issues, Part 1

_**Ok, last one that changes up an episode for quite some time. Hope you enjoy it.**_

* * *

Crona groaned and rubbed his head as he slowly sat up in the bed and then winced, gripping his chest at the sharp pain that suddenly shot through him _"so boy, did you have fun yesterday?"_

Crona gripped his chest more at the sound of the Little One _"why did you do that yesterday? Why did you make me say all of those things to that girl?"_ he demanded earning a chuckle.

_"Oh come now, it was obvious that she was weak, there's no need for someone of our strength to put up with someone like that"_ the Little One rose up from under Crona staring at him from its blank eyes _"we need to be strong if we want to kill those monsters right?"_

_"But why do you have to be so mean to other people?"_

_"Because we can have no room for weakness"_ the Little One stretched forward on that thin body it possessed and looked Crona in the eye _"you can't go around letting your feelings get in the way of your judgment, which is exactly why I'm here, to make the decisions that you can't, because of the leftover weakness you still have"_ its eyes narrowed _"emotional attachments are nothing unless they result in a positive outcome, something that will help you in the future, something that will help you kill those monsters."_

_"Why are you so set on that?"_ Crona asked and the Little One backed away, it's eyes switching back to orbs in what Crona could only guess as surprise.

_"What?"_

_"That's the only thing you seem to talk about, death, pain, and killing those monsters"_ Crona didn't like that blank gaze and averted his eyes to the side _"don't you have anything else to think about? Any dreams?"_

_"Why would I think about something like that? Killing is my only purpose. Our only purpose, nothing else matters."_

_"But what about our friends?"_

_"What do you mean?"_ it asked with a chuckle _"you mean like that Maka girl? The only reason I helped you out with her was because I thought you were toying with her, those children are nothing but a pass time for you right?"_

_"How could you say something like that!"_ Crona thought angrily and again the Little One backed up _"those are our friends! They aren't just some pass time game!"_

The Little One was silent for a long time as it stared at Crona before it looked down and sighed, sliding back beneath Crona _"I see… well then, it looks like you still are weak"_ it shook its head as it sunk_ "I would have thought all that you lost would have gotten rid of any of that pitiful humanity you had left, I just assumed you were toying with those other children, but I see now that I was wrong"_ it slid back into Crona's shadow and a small drop of something popped up out of it and then fell back down, sending ripples out like a stone hitting a pond _"I'll have to do something to take care of that weakness."_

Right as Crona was about to ask what it meant by that something hit him in the head "Crona! Don't ignore me damn it!" Ragnarok yelled hitting the unresponsive boy "why do you keep spacing out like that? And who the hell were you mumbling to?"

"Ragnarok?" Crona looked up at the Chimera with confusion, he hadn't seen or heard him come out "when did you get here?"

Ragnarok looked down with confusion "the hell do you mean? I came out the moment you woke up?"

_"Then what was all of that?"_ Crona thought before the door of his room was blown open.

Crona was about to send a storm of needles into the doorway but he stopped when he heard the voice "young Gorgon! I have arrived!" the loud voice of Alex boomed as the giant strolled into Crona's room soon followed by Maka, and then Blair and Mizune "oh, you poor boy! I heard about what happened back in Lior!" Alex clenched his fist to his chest as tears streamed down his face "to think that your experiences from your past left you so bitter! It's such a horrible thing to imagine!" he grabbed Crona in a bear-hug taking most of the covers with him, squeezing so hard that Crona actually wheezed.

_"Major Armstrong"_ Crona gasped as his lungs were crushed _"you're… crushing… me"_ Alex let go and Crona fell back into the bed, gasping for breath.

"I am sorry Crona, but no child should feel the bitterness you do" Alex put his fists to his hips and stared down at Crona seriously "and so you are coming with the four of us, we are going to the Armstrong Estate, and you are going to enjoy a nice lunch with your friends alongside your lover, so that we may purge this bitterness from your heart!"

Crona blushed a little from the man's words before remembering something "w-wait, w-what happened to the kitten I had?" he asked quickly and then he looked around the room to see if he could find it.

Blair smiled "don't worry Crona, she's right here" something rustled in her loose fitting shirt and a small ball of white fur popped out at Blair's neck "she is just adorable Crona, thank you so much" she rubbed her cheek against the kitten's head and it leaned up into her before she walked over and gave Crona a peck on the cheek, making him look down and blush "one of those black things you make stayed out of you the entire train ride back and gave it to me the first time we all came to check on you" she waved around two the four of them.

"Black Star, Tsubaki, and the others were here too, but they were all called off on assignments so they couldn't be here now" Maka added with a smile before walking over and hugging the boy "oh, I was so worried when I saw you in that bed, with all of that blood on you, I thought something terrible happened."

"Oh, w-w-well, I'm fine, I-I didn't get hurt all that bad" Crona said shakily, and then Maka backed up and gave him a hard look.

"Getting blown apart by a machinegun isn't bad?" she asked and Crona looked to the side with some embarrassment "Ed and Al told us about what happened to you over at Lior, how you survived getting ripped apart and you then healed yourself" she frowned then "how did you do that anyway?"

"That… wasn't… really me" Crona tried wording this in a way that made sense "I mean, it was me, but not really me-"

Maka held up her hand cutting him off "don't worry Crona, Stein told me and the brothers about that disorder of yours."

Crona was even more embarrassed and a little scared now "oh… so you… know about that?"

Maka noticed his fear and then smiled and hugged him again "don't worry Crona, I don't care if you aren't the only one in that head, as long as this Crona in front of me is there, I don't care" she backed up and smiled at him softly "I'm never going to leave you Crona, ever."

"Yes! A proud member of the Armstrong line would never back down from a commitment no matter how difficult it may prove to be!" Alex clapped the two teens on the back, knocking Maka's face into Crona's, but she smiled again and gave him a quick little kiss "now how about we leave this place and go enjoy a quality meal at the Armstrong Estate? You have definitely earned a good meal after what you and the Elrics went through."

Crona frowned at the mention of Ed and Al "s-speaking of those two, w-what happened to Edward and Alphonse? Are they out on assignments too? I-I'd have thought they'd be here" he said before thinking about it and wondering why they would care about him.

Maka scowled then "no, he's here as a patient actually."

Crona's eyes widened "oh no! I-is he alright?"

Maka's scowl never left as she walked over to a curtain beside Crona's bed and pulled it back, revealing a very unconscious Ed staring up with blank eyes and drooling **(Imagine Black Star after Maka chopped him after he ruined that happy moment in episode 8 by jumping on top of Soul when he was in the hospital)** along with Al kneeling next to the boy's bed "hi there Crona" he said quietly with a wave.

Crona stared down at Ed with concern "w-what happened to him!"

Al was about to say something but then clammed up and looked down as Maka crossed her arms "let's just say that he's recovering from a severe concussion" she scowled down at the unconscious Ed "and also that a certain somebody needs to learn to not spread rumors."

Alex laughed heartily down at Ed, clapping a hand on his daughter's shoulder "my daughter has quite the temper, just like her mother!"

"Oh… well then" Crona decided to drop it there "ok, w-well I feel fine, so we can-" he was just about to get out of the bed when he saw he was wearing a thin gown again and he squeaked, pulling the covers around him "w-w-why do they keep taking my clothes?" everyone in the room except for him and, understandably Ed, burst out laughing.

…

After Crona put on a new pair of his usual clothes and a new cloak Alex drove them all to his family's large estate in Central "I have quite a treat for you young Crona, my father, mother and dear sister Catherine are all going to be attending this little meal, I'm sure they will enjoy meeting you."

Maka smiled over at Crona, noting his somewhat nervous look "don't worry Crona, they'll love you, I'm positive."

"Indeed, how could they not enjoy the company of such a polite young man?" Alex chuckled as they pulled into the long circular driveway the circled a large fountain "you have already earned my respect, along with a debt I can only hope to repay for saving my daughter, something the rest of our family will appreciate dearly."

"Y-you really think so?" Crona asked as Alex parked them and got out.

"I don't see why not" Mizune answered sliding out and helping Blair out with the kitten still in the cat-girl's shirt, held up by the girl's natural perkiness "you try hard to make everyone happy, I mean you were on a dangerous assignment and you cared about your friends enough to bring a gift for Blair."

Crona smiled a little before he frowned, and then he looked worried "oh no, I-I forgot to get something for the rest of you-"

Maka and the others all laughed again "you see? That's exactly what she's talking about" Maka got out and held her hand out for Crona "just stop worrying Crona, you'll be fine."

Crona took a deep breath and nodded before taking her hand and once inside the house he and the two half-chimera couldn't keep the awe out of their faces "this place is big" Blair breathed out and Mizune and Crona nodded.

Maka snickered "oh please, if you think the house is big, you should see some of the people who live in it" she shook her head "honestly, if you three met two of my aunts you probably would have all had heart attacks, they're even bigger then my dad" she jerked her thumb back at Alex who laughed.

"That they are" he chuckled before sighing "it's really too bad they couldn't be here though, they would have enjoyed meeting you" he shrugged then and opened a large set of doors "oh well, business is a hard mistress, nothing to do about it I suppose."

When the group entered Crona immediately noticed the short, yet incredibly stocky man with an unnaturally curly beard with two curls for each side of his face sitting down at the end of a long table with two women, one old, and one very young standing next to him "ah, Alex, you and the children have arrived, excellent" he said in a raspy voice as he got up and walked over to the group.

"Everyone, I would like to introduce you to my father, Philip Gargantos Armstrong, the current head of the Armstrong family" Alex smiled.

The man bowed his head with a smile as he reached the group "so this is the boy who saved my granddaughter's life is it?" he looked Crona over closely "hmmm, that look in his eye…" the man's own eye's narrowed before he smiled at Crona "yes, I recognize the fire of a determined man in there" he chuckled then and crossed his arms "ahhh yes, I remember when I used to have that same intensity of fire during my time as a member of the military-"

Maka quickly smiled a shaky smile and waved her hand "o-ok Grandpa, I think Crona would like to eat before you tell him one of your stories" Crona was about to say he'd love to hear one of the man's stories, but the horrified look in Maka's eyes told him not to _"I don't know if you can hear this or not, but when he starts talking his glory days he never stops"_ he heard her think _"__**never**__."_

Philip nodded with a chuckle "yes, I heard about that ravenous hunger of his" he snapped his fingers and a large group of servants walked into the room carrying dozens of covered trays, but that didn't keep Crona and the others from smelling the delicious food "good thing we prepared accordingly yes?" he asked as the servants pulled off the tops.

"This looks amazing!" Blair was practically drooling from the sight of a large plate of some impressively cooked lobster.

"I truly hope you all enjoy the meal, these are only the best recipes which have been passed down the Armstrong line for generations" Alex then gestured to the chairs "take a seat and enjoy."

And that they did, the group of guests and the Armstrongs all enjoyed the lunch they were provided. They were all enjoying a good time with each other, even when Philip began talking about his 'glory' days within the military.

"… And so that is how my men and I single handedly took out a battalion of tanks with only two rockets" Philip finished one of his stories, and the group would have all denied it and said he was making it up if they hadn't heard about that battle themselves "do any of you have any similar stories of interest?"

Maka nudged Crona in the side "oh, Crona tell him about when you saved me the first day we met, how you took an entire pistol clip to the head."

"Yes, what exactly was the story with those men you were after?" Alex asked curiously "they were bandits correct?"

Crona nodded and gripped his arm uncomfortably, he absolutely hated being the center of attention "y-yeah, t-they were a group of bandits who robbed one of the auto-mail engineers from Rush Valley, t-they were part of a much larger town and so I followed them back to destroy them at the base-"

"And then lost some of the stupid bastards too!" Ragnarok came out and punched Crona in the head "made me have to run all the way back and help him find em, dumbass."

"And so that was around the time we ran into you destroying that town" Maka chuckled then "I suppose it was a good thing Crona lost some of them because this guy here would have probably killed all of us."

Crona looked down with embarrassment and guilt "have I said how sorry I am for that yet?"

Maka smiled and patted his shoulder "yes, more then a dozen times now."

Philip eyed Ragnarok with interest "ah, so this must be the Chimera I've heard so much about… I'm impressed" he nodded at Crona "something of this proportion would have required a massive amount of alchemic prowess."

"Oh, well thank you" Crona smiled looking down "my mother really did a good job with me."

"Oh… yes, your mother" Philip sighed and the others all looked down sadly "from what Alex gathered from you and told to me, after bringing her back-" Crona's eyes widened but Philip raised a hand "do not worry young Gorgon, the Armstrongs have confided secrets amongst each other for generations, but we never reveal them to anyone outside the family, your secret is safe" he smiled and Crona breathed out in relief "but yes, from Alex's account, after bringing your mother back you apparently lost all the blood in your body, and that she sacrificed herself to replace it."

Crona sighed "she was merciless" he picked at a steak in front of him "she injected me with dozens of I don't even know what, locked me inside a pitch-black room for days on end, put me up against dozens of super-chimera… but when it came down to it she was still my mother" he put down the fork and stared at his hand "she may have put me in a bunch of horrible situations that ended with me getting hurt, but she never actually hurt me herself, and she always warned me when something was going to hurt, she actually tried to make things as painless as possible."

Everyone was quiet for a while, but eventually Philip spoke up again "I do not wish to make things uncomfortable for you child, there is just something I am curious about?"

"What's that?" Crona asked picking up a glass of water.

"I've heard many things about your mother, past enterprises in the military and the like, but I have never once heard anything about your father-" the glass imploded in Crona's hand and everyone at the table was startled by the intense anger in his eyes.

Crona's clenched fist shook as the broken glass jabbed into his hand causing his blood to drip onto the table cloth "that man…" he growled before taking a deep breath, calming himself "… I'm sorry; I just don't like the topic of my father."

"Did he do something to you?" Maka asked with concern.

Crona shook his head "no, it's not what he did, it's more what he didn't do that makes me sick" he opened up his hand and reconstructed the glass "my mother didn't learn it until after it was too late, but my father, he was a conman, he went all throughout Amestris going after the richest women and he tricked them into falling for him" he shook his head "and then he left, taking mostly anything of value, and he left a lot of women in the same situation as my mother" he pointed to himself "pregnant with a child that she had to raise all on her own."

Alex clenched his fists "that's disgusting, leaving a woman in a situation like that."

"Exactly why I promised myself that if I ever ran into that man, I would break every bone in his body, heal him and do it again, then tear his damn, lying throat out" it was now that everyone eyed him with worry, he was usually only like this when he was fighting. Crona was still staring down at the table cloth before he sighed "I'm sorry if I ruined a perfectly good lunch for everyone."

Philip waved the apology away "do not fret young one, I cannot begin to understand the feelings you must carry after everything you've been put through, but I know for certain that they must be bitter ones" he smiled at Maka then "but hopefully there are some in this world who can rid you of this bitterness" Maka smiled at Crona who in turn smiled back, and then Philip clapped his hands "well then! Back in my day whenever I was feeling bitter, a good scrap always raised my spirits."

Crona frowned as Alex chuckled "huh?"

"He means a battle young Gorgon" Alex provided and Crona paled.

"B-but I don't want to fight any of you! I couldn't fight any of Maka's family!"

"Oh come now, this could do you some good" Alex got up and grabbed Crona by the back of his cloak "a good round of fisticuffs always helped me forget about any harbored bitterness" he chuckled as Crona squirmed and try to get out of his grasp.

Maka watched them as they left and sighed "oh lord, come on, lets make sure my dad doesn't do something to get himself hurt" she got up and walked to the door after them.

Philip raised an eyebrow as he, Catherine, and his wife all followed "you have that much faith in that boy's abilities?"

"Grandpa, that boy took on the Fuhrer and managed to keep up with him, there's no doubt in my mind that he could take on papa just as easily."

"Major please! I-I don't want to fight you, I-I don't want Maka getting mad because I hurt you" Crona whined as the giant dragged him, and he didn't notice the large man's eyes flash.

"Oh really? You are confident that you could damage me? Well we shall see if that is true now won't we?" he looked back as Crona paled. Oh why couldn't he keep his mouth shut!

When Alex reached his destination, a large empty ballroom, he let Crona go then took off his metal gloves, and replaced them with two leather ones with the same circles on the back "do we really have to do this?" Crona asked eyeing the gloves fearfully.

"Not really, but I have to say, I've always wanted to see how you fight without a weapon" Alex chuckled removing his jacket "no weapons other then your fists, understand?"

"Please Major; I really, really don't want to do this-"

"ReadyGo!" Alex lunged forward with only that lightning quick warning and hit Crona in the stomach nearly forcing everything he just ate up his throat.

Alex backed up chuckling but Crona only rubbed his stomach and tried asking him to stop, but before he could Alex lunged forward again, hitting him faster then he could track "Major-" punch to the gut "please I-" elbow to the head "just stop-" backhand to the face.

Alex hit Crona with a barrage of blows every time the boy tried to speak, and Crona was quickly becoming irritated by this before he finally exploded "CUT IT OUT!" Crona's fist snapped forward without him even realizing it as it connected with Alex's face. Alex flew back and smashed into the wall face first, smashing his head through the wall all the way to the neck, and it was only then that Crona saw what he had done "o-o-oh no, M-Major, I-I'm so sorry!"

"Brother, are you alright in there?" Catherine asked with no concern at all.

Crona and the others all watched as Alex's shoulders began shaking and it was only after he punched the wall and changed it to where it looked like a giant open-mouthed version of his head that they all heard the laughter "nicely done young Gorgon! That was a fine blow!" he laughed.

"Major, please, can we stop, I-I don't want to end up doing something that hurts someone" Crona begged.

Alex sighed "oh alright then, I only wished to witness your strength firsthand" he chuckled picking up his jacket "and I must say, I am impressed, you would make a fine Armstrong" he smiled then and clapped the boy on his shoulder "and who knows, perhaps you will become one" he patted him one more time as Maka and the others came down.

"Crona, are you ok?" she looked him over and then breathed out in relief when she didn't see any wounds, her father could get a little out of control at times.

"Y-yeah, don't worry, I-I'm ok."

Maka smiled then, and before anyone could react Alex received a solid dictionary to his forehead "that, is for not stopping when Crona asked you to" Maka crossed her arms as her father rubbed his head "next time he asks you to stop, do it, understood?"

Alex raised his hands and nodded "yes ma'am."

"Good" she smiled at Crona then and chuckled "nice job beating my dad too."

"Well technically he didn't beat me, we merely stopped-" Maka fixed her father with a death-glare and he clammed up.

Crona couldn't help but stare at Maka with newfound awe, he didn't think anyone could reduce Alex to the state he was in right now "that's what I thought, now, how about we go back up stairs and finish our lunch alright?"

"Yes ma'am, of course."

* * *

_**Ok, this is going to be yet another two parter, I'm sorry that I'm doing this, but I'm having trouble thinking up how to do this without having to start another chapter, and also I want to start working on another story idea of mine. A new Soul Eater shipping if you will, called CroBaki, can you guess who the characters will be?**_


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